Hauwa Ali
Tanzania has been tasked to achieve reducing the greenhouse gases from waste by 65 per cent come the year 2030 through adopting zero waste strategies.
This was contained in a research report by the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA) in collaboration with non-governmental organization called NipeFagio, who conducted the study in eight cities around the world, including Dar es Salaam.
Dubbed: Zero Waste to Zero Emissions the report was unveiled on Tuesday in the city.
Africa has a high potential to make strides towards a zero waste world due to the high percentage of organics, progressive legislation on plastic and the presence of waste pickers in cities across the continent.
When launching the report, the NipeFagio Executive Director, Ms Ana Lê Rocha, said through the zero waste approach, vulnerable groups like women and the youth, informal waste collectors and indigenous populations are included in waste management solutions.
This would create a positive systemic change in the waste sector that will build the foundation for a socially-just and climate resilient city, she said.
She noted that the Zero Waste Strategy in the city could provide an opportunity to address historical social inequalities, visible in the fact that most low-income communities in the city lack waste management services and struggle with the health and economic impacts of waste pollution.
With enabling factors, like separation of waste at source, separate management of organic waste, integration of waste pickers and better enforcement of existing legislation on plastic, Africa can become the region which demonstrates the effective implementation of zero waste systems, stated Niven Reddy, GAIAs Africa Regional Coordinator.
GAIAs report modeled potential emissions reductions from eight cities of Bandung (Indonesia), Dar es Salaam (Tanzania), Detroit (USA), eThekwini (South Africa), Lviv (Ukraine), São Paulo (Brazil), Seoul (South Korea), and Temuco (Chile)
The report found that on average, these cities could cut waste sector emissions by almost 84 per cent by introducing better waste management policies such as waste separation, recycling, and composting, cutting total emissions from the waste sector by more than 1.4 billion tonnes, equivalent to the annual emissions of 300 million cars.