Solid waste management practices (Cameroon)

This study focused on the improvement of waste management in Ebolowa. It aimed at characterizing the population and the mode of solid waste management, analyzing the actors in the household solid waste management chain, diagnosing operations related to solid waste management, and proposing solutions that can optimize this waste management. Surveys were conducted among households in the city of Ebolowa, and interviews were conducted on 100 households and 2 organizations. The main results showed that 70% of the population pre-collected twice a week, 20% did it once a week and the remaining 10% did it three times a week. There are two types of waste collection: door-to-door collection, and fixed- point collection. 74% of the waste was biodegradable, 8% of the waste is textiles, 5% waste represents plastics, paper cartons, pieces of iron 2%, 3% glasses. Subsequently, it emerged that the main actors of waste management in the city of Ebolowa were households, CUE, DREPDEP, HYSACAM and the HRD. Finally, it was found that waste management operations were carried out at three levels: upstream where pre-collection operations take place, and intermediate. Collection operations and transport and downstream there are the processing operations. The structuring of urban waste management would contribute to improving the living environment of the populations of the city of Ebolowa. It was concluded that there is a need to reform this waste collection system in the city in order to avoid the resulting disasters when it is done without respecting all the stages of the chain of operations related to waste management.