Knowledge of solid waste management through composting: A comparative study of rural communities in Malaysia and Indonesia

Nationally, expenditures for solid waste collection and disposal are exceeded only by spending on schools and roads [3, p. 1]. In Texas, recent legislation which establishes minimum acceptable standards for disposal of municipal solid wastes materially affects the future costs of operating solid Waste management systems for smaller rural communities.The 1969 amendment to the Texas Solid Waste Disposal Act establishes the minimum legal standards for disposal operations in rural communities. The State Department of Health was given the responsibility for enforcement of regulations involving the collection, handling, storage and disposal of municipal solid wastes. After January 1, 1973, data presented in support of the disposal operations in Texas communities larger than fifteen hundred people must be prepared by a registered professional engineer and submitted to the State Department of Health for approval. Under the auspices of this act all towns with a population of between three thousand and five thousand are required to operate a sanitary landfill with compaction and cover at least twice per week.

Download Full-text

Methodology to Investigate Indigenous Solid Waste Systems and Practices in the Rural Areas Surrounding Maseru (Kingdom of Lesotho)

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph18105355 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 18 (10) ◽

pp. 5355

Author(s):

Mpinane Flory Senekane ◽

Agnes Makhene ◽

Suzan Oelofse

Keyword(s):

Rural Communities ◽

Waste Management ◽

Solid Waste ◽

Rural Areas ◽

Solid Waste Management ◽

Mitigation Measures ◽

Data Sets ◽

Latex Gloves ◽

Analyse Data ◽

Field Workers

Solid waste management (SWM) is the greatest challenge facing environmental protection and human wellbeing in the rural communities of Maseru (Kingsom of Lesotho). A lack of formal waste management (WM) systems in rural areas of Maseru have resulted in different indigenous systems and practices of SWM. Direct observation and descriptive designs will be employed. This is a mixed methods study of qualitative, quantitative and, non-experimental. We obtained data sets from existing official census and statistics of Maseru. We sampled 693 participants from total population of 6917. We received ethical clearance from Research Ethics committee of Health Sciences at the University of Johannesburg, we recruited six field workers. We have preventive equipment (sanitizers, masks, and sterile latex gloves) for COVID-19 infections in place; we have specific design on caps, masks and bags that will identify field workers as they collect data. We will train field workers, administer questionnaires, interview, and observe participants. STATKON will analyse data. The research will share the results with the Ministry of Environment and the community in Lesotho. The results will also be used to educate the rural communities on improved WM. Where weaknesses are identified, mitigation measures can be evaluated and implemented to rectify the negative aspects and improve the systems and practices. The rural communities face challenges such as waste collection services and sanitation facilities and this fact points out that there is a gap in SWM, which favours the existence of indigenous systems and practice of SWM.

Download Full-text