This report investigates the possibilities and solutions for a sustainable municipal solid waste management in the community of Mutomo, situated in Kitui County, Kenya. The aim was to formulate an action plan to start reaching for a sustainable development in the waste sector, with citizen participation. Specific research questions were to find requests and ideas from the community members. Also, how the Swedish solid waste management system is built up in order to find potential good examples. Qualitative methods for data collection were used both in-depth interviews and focus group discussions conducted. Data collection was done with the help of an interpreter; interviewing guides and a recording device were used. The data was transcribed and thematic analysis done using NVivo. The interviews and discussions resulted in many requests and ideas regarding solid waste management. In brief; a legal dumping site, health education of the advantages of managing waste and the disadvantages if not, increase of public dustbins, increase of people employed for waste collection, an organized system for trade of waste and improved future planning of the town by the local authorities. To conclude, if a sustainable development within the waste sector is to be initiated, the local authorities have to take action and shoulder their responsibility. Improved collaboration between them and the public health office, community members and private stakeholders is essential. The proposed action plan is a good tool to use when initiating this work and would be created through co-operation with residents in Mutomo.

This Master thesis connects two interrelated environmental issues – climate change and waste management. Both have been under discussion for few decades and are currently two of the top priorities on EU’s environmental agenda. The goal of this thesis is to find out in what ways waste management in Lithuania and Sweden can contribute towards reducing global warming and how the release of greenhouse gases could be reduced. Four different material flows – food, metal, plastic, and paper and cardboard – are examined and greenhouse gas reduction potentials are calculated, using data found in various reports. The case studies of Lithuania and Sweden help to find out the strong and the weak points of waste management systems in the two countries by comparing their differences. The results show that in Lithuania significant greenhouse gas reductions can be achieved by improving waste sorting and decreasing disposal rates, whereas in Sweden waste management is well-developed, but still could be upgraded by switching to more efficient waste treatment practices. The thesis is concluded by indicating the pros and cons of waste management in Lithuania and Sweden.

Solid waste management (SWM) is a growing problem in developing countries around the world. In Guatemala, indigenous communities, which are predominantly rural and remote, are particularly hard hit by a lack of basic SWM services. Todos Santos, situated in the Cuchumatanes mountain range of northwestern Guatemala, is one such community. As projects developed, planned, and implemented from 'the top down' continue to be ineffective, the literature provides little insight about remote communities' perspectives on exactly what issues SWM creates, influences, and exacerbates, and how they might respond to these concerns themselves. Using a participatory systems approach, this study investigated the systemic structures and behaviours that maintain and exacerbate SWM challenges in Todos Santos, and where key places (leverage points) to intervene in the system may exist. The study presents a wide selection of locally appropriate SWM solutions to target these leverage points in the form of four future scenarios These scenarios act as a step-wise implementation plan for gradual implementation in the community, each building upon the previous, ultimately reaching a community-defined vision for SWM.

This thesis evaluates the waste management system in the province of Manitoba, Canada and other jurisdictions to identify best practices for, and barriers and opportunities to, improving its impact on the environment. Multiple methods were used. First, a survey of expert stakeholders in the waste management sector in Manitoba was conducted, which was followed by an expert stakeholder meeting that further refined the results of the survey. Second, waste management systems of Manitoba, Canada, Nova Scotia, Canada, New South Wales, Australia, and Denmark were compared to determine which of the options already in use by other jurisdictions might be useful in Manitoba. Finally, an estimation of the amount of organic waste entering landfills in Manitoba was conducted, along with an estimation of the resulting methane emissions from landfills to determine their greenhouse gas emissions.

Nutrient inflows from anthropogenic sources into water systems are causing eutrophication, algal blooms and trophic changes in Swedish lakes and seas. The European water framework directive was implemented to regulate member countries' policies to achieve a good status in surface waters. Reduction fishing has shown to be an effective lake restoration tool involving removal of large quantities of planktivorous fish, decreasing the internal nutrient loads and recovering the lake status. The Administrative board of Östergötland (Länsstyrelsen Östergötland) started this project with the aims to find out how to dispose of the fish from reduction fishing projects in a sustainable way in the county of Östergötland. With analysis of secondary lake data, the study also aims to highlight the ecological and chemical status in five of the county's most eutrophic lakes: Asplången, Värnässjön, Svinstadsjön, Nimmern and Hällerstadsjön. The amount of predicted catch during a reduction project, for each lake with the corresponding amount of phosphorus (P) and nitrogen (N) removal, was calculated based on lake area and reduction fishing guidelines. To find out the prospects and possibilities fora sustainable catch disposal, literature review, interviews and communication with possible stakeholders in the area were conducted and analysed in a SWOT-analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) as wellas for three sustainability criteria based on the Swedish waste regulation. The results showed that the ecological status is ranging from bad to moderate in the five studied lakes and that approximately 162 - 218 tonnes of fishcould be removed which corresponds to a reduction of P by ca. 1.1 - 1.5 tonnes and N by ca. 4.4 - 5.9. Four possible disposal methods were determined: the use of bream and roach as food for humans, for animal feed, for production of biogas and waste disposal by incineration. Roach and bream for human consumption showed to be a possible option despite a huge resistance in acceptance of roach and bream as edible fishes. Fish as feed was also possible if used as bait for fishing. Biogas production from fish worked well at the local biogas plant as long as the fish was prepared in the right way. Incineration could work as an easy way to dispose off the fish. The SWOT-analysis showed most strengths and possibilities for the biogas option, whereas the food alternative had more weaknesses and threats. However, due to waste management regulations, the use of roach and bream as food or animal feed were the more sustainable options.

The WM sector in Nairobi is a failure. Collection rates are deplorable, regulations go unenforced and the municipal landfill is desecrating the environment and killing neighbouring slum dwellers. This paper focuses on the exclusion and marginalization of the slums adjacent to Nairobi’s landfill, Korogocho and Dandora, and uses a post-structuralist theoretical framework to conceptualize a just response to these exclusions and theorize an inclusive approach to waste policy in Nairobi. Building on the work of Jacques Derrida, I present a ‘deconstructive ethic’ for development that is dedicated to mitigating and overcoming the production of alterity, and reintegrating excluded communities and knowledges into the sites of knowledge and policy creation. This ethic is used to formulate a five-part response to the conditions of exclusion experienced in Korogocho and Dandora, and to engage these populations in finding participatory solutions to the city’s waste problem.

This thesis evaluates the waste management system in the province of Manitoba, Canada and other jurisdictions to identify best practices for, and barriers and opportunities to, improving its impact on the environment. Multiple methods were used. First, a survey of expert stakeholders in the waste management sector in Manitoba was conducted, which was followed by an expert stakeholder meeting that further refined the results of the survey. Second, waste management systems of Manitoba, Canada, Nova Scotia, Canada, New South Wales, Australia, and Denmark were compared to determine which of the options already in use by other jurisdictions might be useful in Manitoba. Finally, an estimation of the amount of organic waste entering landfills in Manitoba was conducted, along with an estimation of the resulting methane emissions from landfills to determine their greenhouse gas emissions.

This project explores the gender relations among a group of recyclers belonging to a consortium of nine recycling cooperatives in the ABC region of São Paulo, Brazil. Employing a feminist geographical lens and participatory research methodologies I examine these uniquely gendered spaces. This thesis is divided into four sections. Each section is written in an attempt to improve understandings of the ways in which the spaces of the recycling cooperatives are gendered. In the first section I provide information that frames the thesis and the larger research project. I begin this section by providing a geographical and socio-economic overview of the region where the research took place. This is followed by a discussion of my research methodology, a literature review of the relationship between women, solid waste, and labour in Brazil, and a look at my reflexive positioning as a researcher on this project. Section two explores the relationship between gender, empowerment and equity among cooperative recyclers involved with this study. This section poses the question: in what ways has the recycling cooperative allowed for women to inspire personal and social change and have the power to influence the institutions that affect their lives? I argue that the recycling cooperatives involved with this study are spaces where individuals who have traditionally lacked access to power are granted the opportunities to empower themselves. Section three is about performed social relations, specifically the role of hegemonic masculinity in shaping gendered space within the recycling cooperatives. Drawing from qualitative research data, this section critically explores the deployment of power within the lives of the cooperative recyclers. First, I explore the concept of hegemonic masculinity, and suggest its importance for understanding gendered space. Second, I draw on my personal research experiences and qualitative data to provide a spatial examination of the most salient aspects of hegemonic masculinity in the lives of the female cooperative recyclers. Third, I support the notion that masculine domination is not something only established by men and designed to oppress women, but women themselves can construct and reinforce hegemonic masculinities. Section four concludes the study by highlighting apparent shortcomings of the research and implications for future research. Concerned with apparent contradictions between the arguments in sections two and three, I provide a discussion of the multiplicities of space and explain that such contradictions are inherent to the nature of social space. Following this I offer a critical self-reflection of my methodology were I discuss my complicity in reproducing gender binaries and post-colonial research practices. / Graduate

Thesis (M. Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 1995. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.L.(Prof.))--University of Pretoria, 2004. / Includes summary. Includes bibliographical references.