Solid Waste Management

Inadequate SWM can create favourable habitats for insects, rodents and other diseases and therefore poses a threat to public health, especially in emergency settings. Untreated waste can contaminate open as well as groundwater bodies; children risk injury or sickness by getting into contact with poorly managed solid waste while playing outside; and people earning their living by collecting reusable materials from waste dumps are in danger of injury or infectious disease. Solid waste should be handled in a way that pollution of the natural, living, learning, working and communal environments is avoided. Functional solid waste removal services are determined my three main aspects: - handling, separating, storing, sorting and processing waste at source; - transferring to a collection point; and - transporting and final disposal, reuse, re-purposing or recycling.

In each of the target settlements, use structured interviews, observations and reviews of documents to assess the following sub-indicators:

RECOMMENDED SURVEY QUESTIONS (Q) AND POSSIBLE ANSWERS (A)

Q1: Is the settlement reasonably clean and free of uncollected waste?

A1: yes / no / Don’t know

Q2: Is the waste removed from the settlement regularly, at least twice per week? (twice per week is Sphere Standard; regularity can be assessed by interviews with local inhabitants and checking service providers' documentation, such as salary payrolls)

A2: yes / no / Don’t know

Q3: Is there any major risk of solid waste in the target area polluting or causing other harms to the environment? (for example, polluting waters)

A3: yes / no / Don’t know

NOTE: If the answer to Q1 and Q2 is YES, to Q3 is NO, and no other major dysfunctionalities are identified, the waste management system can be considered as “functional”.

To calculate the indicator's value, assess and sum up the number of people living in settlements whose solid waste management system was considered as "functional".

What activities should the indicator be used for?

Recommended for projects addressing environmental health and humanitarian settings

Disaggregate the data by gender.

1) Consider assessing also the following, additional data:

> Do the waste collectors use protective clothing? (min. gloves)

> Is the waste collected by children?

2) This indicator is one of ECHO's Key Result Indicators (KRI) - see their full list below.