Contemporary institutional solid waste management practices of Haramaya University, Eastern Ethiopia

Even though waste products arise from our ways of life and are generated at every stage of the process of production and development, the type of decision making that leads to adequate solid waste management requires a sound understanding of the composition and processes that determine the generation of waste. So, to be successful, the first step is to carry out solid waste characterization studies. The aim of this paper is twofold. First, it investigates the generation rate and physical composition of solid waste. Second, it examines the existing status and spatial coverage of institutional solid waste management practices of Haramaya University (HU). The sampling methods employed to select the study units include stratified sampling, systematic random sampling and purposive sampling. Questionnaires, field observations, field measurement and semi-structured interviews were employed to assess the soundness of waste management practices. The wastes generated on HU main campus can be estimated to be 3,509,077.15 kg/year (9483.99 m3) and 2788.68 kg/day (7.537 m3). The per capita generation of solid waste was highest (0.288 kg/person/day) at household residential buildings followed by 0.079 kg/person/day at administrative and academic staff buildings and 0.052 kg/person/day at the students’ dormitory. Manual segregation of the collected wastes comprised both biodegradable (89.21%) and non-biodegradable waste (10.79%) materials. This indicates that waste reduction through composting is a potential alternative if the biodegradable waste can be successfully separated at the source. Moreover, the current waste management system at the university is already overtaxed due to lack of institutional coordination and insufficient and skilled manpower resources. Evidences to this fact are low collection rates and lack of proper scientific disposal mechanisms. Based on the findings, the formulation and implementation of integrated solid waste management strategy are suggested.