A-21: SOLID WASTES - MANAGEMENT
Distr.
GENERAL
A/CONF.151/26 (Vol. II)
13 August 1992
ORIGINAL: ENGLISH
REPORT OF THE UNITED NATIONS CONFERENCE ON
ENVIRONMENT AND DEVELOPMENT
(Rio de Janeiro, 3-14 June 1992)
Chapter 21
ENVIRONMENTALLY SOUND MANAGEMENT OF SOLID WASTES
AND SEWAGE-RELATED ISSUES
INTRODUCTION
21.1. This chapter has been incorporated in Agenda 21 in response to
General Assembly resolution 44/228, section I, paragraph 3, in which the
Assembly affirmed that the Conference should elaborate strategies and
measures to halt and reverse the effects of environmental degradation in
the context of increased national and international efforts to promote
sustainable and environmentally sound development in all countries, and to
section I, paragraph 12 (g), of the same resolution, in which the Assembly
affirmed that environmentally sound management of wastes was among the
environmental issues of major concern in maintaining the quality of the
Earth's environment and especially in achieving environmentally sound and
sustainable development in all countries.
21.2. Programme areas included in the present chapter of Agenda 21 are
closely related to the following programme areas of other chapters of
Agenda 21:
(a) Protection of the quality and supply of freshwater resources:
application of integrated approaches to the development, management and use
of water resources (chapter 18);
(b) Promoting sustainable human settlement development (chapter 7);
(c) Protecting and promoting human health conditions (chapter 6);
(d) Changing consumption patterns (chapter 4).
21.3. Solid wastes, as defined in this chapter, include all domestic
refuse and non-hazardous wastes such as commercial and institutional
wastes, street sweepings and construction debris. In some countries, the
solid wastes management system also handles human wastes such as
night-soil, ashes from incinerators, septic tank sludge and sludge from
sewage treatment plants. If these wastes manifest hazardous
characteristics they should be treated as hazardous wastes.
21.4. Environmentally sound waste management must go beyond the mere safe
disposal or recovery of wastes that are generated and seek to address the
root cause of the problem by attempting to change unsustainable patterns of
production and consumption. This implies the application of the integrated
life cycle management concept, which presents a unique opportunity to
reconcile development with environmental protection.
21.5. Accordingly, the framework for requisite action should be founded on
a hierarchy of objectives and focused on the four major waste-related
programme areas, as follows:
(a) Minimizing wastes;
(b) Maximizing environmentally sound waste reuse and recycling;
(c) Promoting environmentally sound waste disposal and treatment;
(d) Extending waste service coverage.
21.6. The four programme areas are interrelated and mutually supportive
and must therefore be integrated in order to provide a comprehensive and
environmentally responsive framework for managing municipal solid wastes.
The mix and emphasis given to each of the four programme areas will vary
according to the local socio-economic and physical conditions, rates of
waste generation and waste composition. All sectors of society should
participate in all the programme areas.
PROGRAMME AREAS
A. Minimizing wastes
Basis for action
21.7. Unsustainable patterns of production and consumption are increasing
the quantities and variety of environmentally persistent wastes at
unprecedented rates. The trend could significantly increase the quantities
of wastes produced by the end of the century and increase quantities four
to fivefold by the year 2025. A preventive waste management approach
focused on changes in lifestyles and in production and consumption patterns
offers the best chance for reversing current trends.
Objectives
21.8. The objectives in this area are:
(a) To stabilize or reduce the production of wastes destined for
final disposal, over an agreed time-frame, by formulating goals based on
waste weight, volume and composition and to induce separation to facilitate
waste recycling and reuse;
(b) To strengthen procedures for assessing waste quantity and
composition changes for the purpose of formulating operational waste
minimization policies utilizing economic or other instruments to induce
beneficial modifications of production and consumption patterns.
21.9. Governments, according to their capacities and available resources
and with the cooperation of the United Nations and other relevant
organizations, as appropriate, should:
(a) By the year 2000, ensure sufficient national, regional and
international capacity to access, process and monitor waste trend
information and implement waste minimization policies;
(b) By the year 2000, have in place in all industrialized countries
programmes to stabilize or reduce, if practicable, production of wastes
destined for final disposal, including per capita wastes (where this
concept applies), at the level prevailing at that date; developing
countries as well should work towards that goal without jeopardizing their
development prospects;
(c) Apply by the year 2000, in all countries, in
particular in industrialized countries, programmes to reduce the production
of agrochemical wastes, containers and packaging materials, which do not
meet hazardous characteristics.
Activities
(a) Management-related activities
21.10. Governments should initiate programmes to achieve sustained
minimization of waste generation. Non-governmental organizations and
consumer groups should be encouraged to participate in such programmes,
which could be drawn up with the cooperation of international
organizations, where necessary. These programmes should, wherever
possible, build upon existing or planned activities and should:
(a) Develop and strengthen national capacities in research and
design of environmentally sound technologies, as well as adopt measures to
reduce wastes to a minimum;
(b) Provide for incentives to reduce unsustainable patterns of
production and consumption;
(c) Develop, where necessary, national plans to minimize waste
generation as part of overall national development plans;
(d) Emphasize waste minimization considerations in procurement
within the United Nations system.
(b) Data and information
21.11. Monitoring is a key prerequisite for keeping track of changes in
waste quantity and quality and their resultant impact on health and the
environment. Governments, with the support of international agencies,
should:
(a) Develop and apply methodologies for country-level waste
monitoring;
(b) Undertake data gathering and analysis, establish national goals
and monitor progress;
(c) Utilize data to assess environmental soundness of national waste
policies as a basis for corrective action;
(d) Input information into global information systems.
(c) International and regional cooperation and coordination
21.12. The United Nations and intergovernmental organizations, with the
collaboration of Governments, should help promote waste minimization by
facilitating greater exchange of information, know-how and experience. The
following is a non-exhaustive list of specific activities that could be
undertaken:
(a) Identifying, developing and harmonizing methodologies for waste
monitoring and transferring such methodologies to countries;
(b) Identifying and further developing the activities of existing
information networks on clean technologies and waste minimization;
(c) Undertaking periodic assessment, collating and analysing country
data and reporting systematically, in an appropriate United Nations forum,
to the countries concerned;
(d) Reviewing the effectiveness of all waste minimization
instruments and identifying potential new instruments that could be used
and techniques by which they could be made operational at the country
level. Guidelines and codes of practice should be developed;
(e) Undertaking research on the social and economic
impacts of waste minimization at the consumer level.
Means of implementation
(a) Financing and cost evaluation
21.13. The Conference secretariat suggests that industrialized countries
should consider investing in waste minimization the equivalent of about
1 per cent of the expenditures on solid wastes and sewage disposal. At
current levels, this would amount to about $6.5 billion annually, including
about $1.8 billion related to minimizing municipal solid wastes. Actual
amounts would be determined by relevant municipal, provincial and national
budget authorities based on local circumstances.
(b) Scientific and technological means
21.14. Waste minimization technologies and procedures will need to be
identified and widely disseminated. This work should be coordinated by
national Governments, with the cooperation and collaboration of
non-governmental organizations, research institutions and appropriate
organizations of the United Nations, and could include the following:
(a) Undertaking a continuous review of the effectiveness of all
waste minimization instruments and identifying potential new instruments
that could be used and techniques by which instruments could be made
operational at the country level. Guidelines and codes of practice should
be developed;
(b) Promoting waste prevention and minimization as the principal
objective of national waste management programmes;
(c) Promoting public education and a range of regulatory and
non-regulatory incentives to encourage industry to change product design
and reduce industrial process wastes through cleaner production
technologies and good housekeeping practices and to encourage industries
and consumers to use types of packaging that can be safely reused;
(d) Executing, in accordance with national capacities, demonstration
and pilot programmes to optimize waste minimization instruments;
(e) Establishing procedures for adequate transport, storage,
conservation and management of agricultural products, foodstuffs and other
perishable goods in order to reduce the loss of those products, which
results in the production of solid waste;
(f) Facilitating the transfer of waste-reduction technologies to
industry, particularly in developing countries, and establishing concrete
national standards for effluents and solid waste, taking into account,
inter alia, raw material use and energy consumption.
(c) Human resource development
21.15. Human resource development for waste minimization not only should
be targeted at professionals in the waste management sector but also should
seek to obtain the support of citizens and industry. Human resource
development programmes must therefore aim to raise consciousness and
educate and inform concerned groups and the public in general. Countries
should incorporate within school curricula, where appropriate, the
principles and practices of preventing and minimizing wastes and material
on the environmental impacts of waste.
B. Maximizing environmentally sound waste reuse
and recycling
Basis for action
21.16. The exhaustion of traditional disposal sites, stricter
environmental controls governing waste disposal and increasing quantities
of more persistent wastes, particularly in industrialized countries, have
all contributed to a rapid increase in the cost of waste disposal services.
Costs could double or triple by the end of the decade. Some current
disposal practices pose a threat to the environment. As the economics of
waste disposal services change, waste recycling and resource recovery are
becoming increasingly cost-effective. Future waste management programmes
should take maximum advantage of resource-efficient approaches to the
control of wastes. These activities should be carried out in conjunction
with public education programmes. It is important that markets for
products from reclaimed materials be identified in the development of reuse
and recycling programmes.
Objectives
21.17. The objectives in this area are:
(a) To strengthen and increase national waste reuse and recycling
systems;
(b) To create a model internal waste reuse and recycling programme
for waste streams, including paper, within the United Nations system;
(c) To make available information, techniques and appropriate policy
instruments to encourage and make operational waste reuse and recycling
schemes.
21.18. Governments, according to their capacities and available resources
and with the cooperation of the United Nations and other relevant
organizations, as appropriate, should:
(a) By the year 2000, promote sufficient financial and technological
capacities at the regional, national and local levels, as appropriate, to
implement waste reuse and recycling policies and actions;
(b) By the year 2000, in all industrialized countries, and by the
year 2010, in all developing countries, have a national programme,
including, to the extent possible, targets for efficient waste reuse and
recycling.
Activities
(a) Management-related activities
21.19. Governments and institutions and non-governmental organizations,
including consumer, women's and youth groups, in collaboration with
appropriate organizations of the United Nations system, should launch
programmes to demonstrate and make operational enhanced waste reuse and
recycling. These programmes should, wherever possible, build upon existing
or planned activities and should:
(a) Develop and strengthen national capacity to reuse and recycle an
increasing proportion of wastes;
(b) Review and reform national waste policies to provide incentives
for waste reuse and recycling;
(c) Develop and implement national plans for waste management that
take advantage of, and give priority to, waste reuse and recycling;
(d) Modify existing standards or purchase specifications to avoid
discrimination against recycled materials, taking into account the saving
in energy and raw materials;
(e) Develop public education and awareness programmes to promote the
use of recycled products.
(b) Data and information
21.20. Information and research is required to identify promising socially
acceptable and cost-effective forms of waste reuse and recycling relevant
to each country. For example, supporting activities undertaken by
national and local governments in collaboration with the United Nations and
other international organizations could include:
(a) Undertaking an extensive review of options and techniques for
reuse and recycling all forms of municipal solid wastes. Policies for
reuse and recycling should be made an integral component of national and
local waste management programmes;
(b) Assessing the extent and practice of waste reuse and recycling
operations currently undertaken and identifying ways by which these could
be increased and supported;
(c) Increasing funding for research pilot programmes to test various
options for reuse and recycling, including the use of small-scale,
cottage-based recycling industries; compost production; treated waste-water
irrigation; and energy recovery from wastes;
(d) Producing guidelines and best practices for waste reuse and
recycling;
(e) Intensifying efforts, at collecting, analysing and
disseminating, to key target groups, relevant information on waste issues.
Special research grants could be made available on a competitive basis for
innovative research projects on recycling techniques;
(f) Identifying potential markets for recycled products.
(c) International and regional cooperation and coordination
21.21. States, through bilateral and multilateral cooperation, including
through the United Nations and other relevant international organizations,
as appropriate, should:
(a) Undertake a periodic review of the extent to which countries
reuse and recycle their wastes;
(b) Review the effectiveness of techniques for and approaches to
waste reuse and recycling and ways of enhancing their application in
countries;
(c) Review and update international guidelines for the safe reuse of
wastes;
(d) Establish appropriate programmes to support small communities'
waste reuse and recycling industries in developing countries.
Means of implementation
(a) Financing and cost evaluation
21.22. The Conference secretariat has estimated that if the equivalent of
1 per cent of waste-related municipal expenditures was devoted to safe
waste reuse schemes, worldwide expenditures for this purpose would amount
to $8 billion. The secretariat estimates the total annual cost (1993-2000)
of implementing the activities of this programme area in developing
countries to be about $850 million on grant or concessional terms. These
are indicative and order-of-magnitude estimates only and have not been
reviewed by Governments. Actual costs and financial terms, including any
that are non-concessional, will depend upon, inter alia, the specific
programmes proposed by international institutions and approved by their
governing bodies.
(b) Scientific and technological means
21.23. The transfer of technology should support waste recycling and reuse
by the following means:
(a) Including the transfer of recycling technologies, such as
machinery for reusing plastics, rubber and paper, within bilateral and
multilateral technical cooperation and aid programmes;
(b) Developing and improving existing technologies, especially
indigenous technologies, and facilitating their transfer under ongoing
regional and interregional technical assistance programmes;
(c) Facilitating the transfer of waste reuse and recycling
technology.
21.24. Incentives for waste reuse and recycling are numerous. Countries
could consider the following options to encourage industry, institutions,
commercial establishments and individuals to recycle wastes instead of
disposing of them:
(a) Offering incentives to local and municipal authorities that
recycle the maximum proportion of their wastes;
(b) Providing technical assistance to informal waste reuse and
recycling operations;
(c) Applying economic and regulatory instruments, including tax
incentives, to support the principle that generators of wastes pay for
their disposal;
(d) Providing legal and economic conditions conducive to investments
in waste reuse and recycling;
(e) Implementing specific mechanisms such as deposit/refund systems
as incentives for reuse and recycling;
(f) Promoting the separate collection of recyclable parts of
household wastes;
(g) Providing incentives to improve the marketability of technically
recyclable waste;
(h) Encouraging the use of recyclable materials, particularly in
packaging, where feasible;
(i) Encouraging the development of markets for recycled goods by
establishing programmes.
(c) Human resource development
21.25. Training will be required to reorient current waste management
practices to include waste reuse and recycling. Governments, in
collaboration with United Nations international and regional organizations,
should undertake the following indicative list of actions:
(a) Including waste reuse and recycling in in-service training
programmes as integral components of technical cooperation programmes on
urban management and infrastructure development;
(b) Expanding training programmes on water supply and sanitation to
incorporate techniques and policies for waste reuse and recycling;
(c) Including the advantages and civic obligations associated with
waste reuse and recycling in school curricula and relevant general
educational courses;
(d) Encouraging non-governmental organizations, community-based
organizations and women's, youth and public interest group programmes, in
collaboration with local municipal authorities, to mobilize community
support for waste reuse and recycling through focused community-level
campaigns.
(d) Capacity-building
21.26. Capacity-building to support increased waste reuse and recycling
should focus on the following areas:
(a) Making operational national policies and incentives for waste
management;
(b) Enabling local and municipal authorities to mobilize community
support for waste reuse and recycling by involving and assisting informal
sector waste reuse and recycling operations and undertaking waste
management planning that incorporates resource recovery practices.
C. Promoting environmentally sound waste disposal
and treatment
Basis for action
21.27. Even when wastes are minimized, some wastes will still remain.
Even after treatment, all discharges of wastes have some residual impact on
the receiving environment. Consequently, there is scope for improving
waste treatment and disposal practices such as, for example, avoiding the
discharge of sludges at sea. In developing countries, the problem is of a
more fundamental nature: less than 10 per cent of urban wastes receive
some form of treatment and only a small proportion of treatment is in
compliance with any acceptable quality standard. Faecal matter treatment
and disposal should be accorded due priority given the potential threat of
faeces to human health.
Objectives
21.28. The objective in this area is to treat and safely dispose of a
progressively increasing proportion of the generated wastes.
21.29. Governments, according to their capacities and available resources
and with the cooperation of the United Nations and other relevant
organizations, as appropriate, should:
(a) By the year 2000, establish waste treatment and disposal quality
criteria, objectives and standards based on the nature and assimilative
capacity of the receiving environment;
(b) By the year 2000, establish sufficient capacity to undertake
waste-related pollution impact monitoring and conduct regular surveillance,
including epidemiological surveillance, where appropriate;
(c) By the year 1995, in industrialized countries, and by the year
2005, in developing countries, ensure that at least 50 per cent of all
sewage, waste waters and solid wastes are treated or disposed of in
conformity with national or international environmental and health quality
guidelines;
(d) By the year 2025, dispose of all sewage, waste waters and solid
wastes in conformity with national or international environmental quality
guidelines.
Activities
(a) Management-related activities
21.30. Governments, institutions and non-governmental organizations,
together with industries, in collaboration with appropriate organizations
of the United Nations system, should launch programmes to improve the
control and management of waste-related pollution. These programmes
should, wherever possible, build upon existing or planned activities and
should:
(a) Develop and strengthen national capacity to treat and safely
dispose of wastes;
(b) Review and reform national waste management policies to gain
control over waste-related pollution;
(c) Encourage countries to seek waste disposal solutions within
their sovereign territory and as close as possible to the sources of origin
that are compatible with environmentally sound and efficient management.
In a number of countries, transboundary movements take place to ensure that
wastes are managed in an environmentally sound and efficient way. Such
movements observe the relevant conventions, including those that apply to
areas that are not under national jurisdiction;
(d) Develop human wastes management plans, giving due attention to
the development and application of appropriate technologies and the
availability of resources for implementation.
(b) Data and information
21.31. Standard setting and monitoring are two key elements essential for
gaining control over waste-related pollution. The following specific
activities are indicative of the kind of supportive actions that could be
taken by international bodies such as the United Nations Centre for Human
Settlements (Habitat), the United Nations Environment Programme and the
World Health Organization:
(a) Assembling and analysing the scientific evidence and pollution
impacts of wastes in the environment in order to formulate and disseminate
recommended scientific criteria and guidelines for the environmentally
sound management of solid wastes;
(b) Recommending national and, where relevant, local environmental
quality standards based on scientific criteria and guidelines;
(c) Including within technical cooperation programmes and agreements
the provision for monitoring equipment and for the requisite training in
its use;
(d) Establishing an information clearing-house with extensive
networks at the regional, national and local levels to collect and
disseminate information on all aspects of waste management, including safe
disposal.
(c) International and regional cooperation and coordination
21.32. States, through bilateral and multilateral cooperation, including
through the United Nations and other relevant international organizations,
as appropriate, should:
(a) Identify, develop and harmonize methodologies and environmental
quality and health guidelines for safe waste discharge and disposal;
(b) Review and keep abreast of developments and disseminate
information on the effectiveness of techniques and approaches to safe waste
disposal and ways of supporting their application in countries.
Means of implementation
(a) Financing and cost evaluation
21.33. Safe waste disposal programmes are relevant to both developed and
developing countries. In developed countries the focus is on improving
facilities to meet higher environmental quality criteria, while in
developing countries considerable investment is required to build new
treatment facilities.
21.34. The Conference secretariat has estimated the average total annual
cost (1993-2000) of implementing the activities of this programme in
developing countries to be about $15 billion, including about $3.4 billion
from the international community on grant or concessional terms. These are
indicative and order-of-magnitude estimates only and have not been reviewed
by Governments. Actual costs and financial terms, including any that are
non-concessional, will depend upon, inter alia, the specific strategies and
programmes Governments decide upon for implementation.
(b) Scientific and technological means
21.35. Scientific guidelines and research on various aspects of
waste-related pollution control will be crucial for achieving the
objectives of this programme. Governments, municipalities and local
authorities, with appropriate international cooperation, should:
(a) Prepare guidelines and technical reports on subjects such as the
integration of land-use planning in human settlements with waste disposal,
environmental quality criteria and standards, waste treatment and safe
disposal options, industrial waste treatment and landfill operations;
(b) Undertake research on critical subjects such as low-cost,
low-maintenance waste-water treatment systems; safe sludge disposal
options; industrial waste treatment; and low-technology, ecologically safe
waste disposal options;
(c) Transfer technologies, in conformity with the terms as well as
the provisions of chapter 34 (Transfer of environmentally sound technology,
cooperation and capacity-building), on industrial waste treatment processes
through bilateral nad multilateral technical cooperation programmes and in
cooperation with business and industry, including large and transnational
corporations, as appropriate.
(d) Focus on the rehabilitation, operation and maintenance of
existing facilities and technical assistance on improved maintenance
practices and techniques followed by the planning and construction of waste
treatment facilities;
(e) Establish programmes to maximize the source segregation and safe
disposal of the hazardous components of municipal solid waste;
(f) Ensure the investment and provision of waste collection
facilities with the concomitant provision of water services and with an
equal and parallel investment and provision of waste treatment facilities.
(c) Human resource development
21.36. Training would be required to improve current waste management
practices to include safe collection and waste disposal. The following is
an indicative list of actions that should be taken by Governments, in
collaboration with international organizations:
(a) Providing both formal and in-service training, focused on
pollution control, waste treatment and disposal technologies, and operating
and maintaining waste-related infrastructure. Intercountry staff exchange
programmes should also be established;
(b) Undertaking the requisite training for waste-related pollution
monitoring and control enforcement.
(d) Capacity-building
21.37. Institutional reforms and capacity-building will be indispensable
if countries are to be able to quantify and mitigate waste-related
pollution. Activities to achieve this objective should include:
(a) Creating and strengthening independent environmental control
bodies at the national and local levels. International organizations and
donors should support needed upgrading of manpower skills and provision of
equipment;
(b) Empowering of pollution control agencies with the requisite
legal mandate and financial capacities to carry out their duties
effectively.
D. Extending waste service coverage
Basis for action
21.38. By the end of the century, over 2.0 billion people will be without
access to basic sanitation, and an estimated half of the urban population
in developing countries will be without adequate solid waste disposal
services. As many as 5.2 million people, including 4 million children
under five years of age, die each year from waste-related diseases. The
health impacts are particularly severe for the urban poor. The health and
environmental impacts of inadequate waste management, however, go beyond
the unserved settlements themselves and result in water, land and air
contamination and pollution over a wider area. Extending and improving
waste collection and safe disposal services are crucial to gaining control
over this form of pollution.
Objectives
21.39. The overall objective of this programme is to provide
health-protecting, environmentally safe waste collection and disposal
services to all people. Governments, according to their capacities and
available resources and with the cooperation of the United Nations and
other relevant organizations, as appropriate, should:
(a) By the year 2000, have the necessary technical, financial and
human resource capacity to provide waste collection services commensurate
with needs;
(b) By the year 2025, provide all urban populations with adequate
waste services;
(c) By the year 2025, ensure that full urban waste service coverage
is maintained and sanitation coverage achieved in all rural areas.
Activities
(a) Management-related activities
21.40. Governments, according to their capacities and available resources
and with the cooperation of the United Nations and other relevant
organizations, as appropriate, should:
(a) Establish financing mechanisms for waste management service
development in deprived areas, including appropriate modes of revenue
generation;
(b) Apply the "polluter pays" principle, where appropriate, by
setting waste management charges at rates that reflect the costs of
providing the service and ensure that those who generate the wastes pay the
full cost of disposal in an environmentally safe way;
(c) Encourage institutionalization of communities' participation in
planning and implementation procedures for solid waste management.
(b) Data and information
21.41. Governments, in collaboration with the United Nations and
international organizations, should undertake the following:
(a) Developing and applying methodologies for waste monitoring;
(b) Data gathering and analysis to establish goals and monitor
progress;
(c) Inputting information into a global information system building
upon existing systems;
(d) Strengthening the activities of existing information networks in
order to disseminate focused information on the application of innovative
and low-cost alternatives for waste disposal to targeted audiences.
(c) International and regional cooperation and coordination
21.42. Many United Nations and bilateral programmes exist that seek to
provide water supply and sanitation services to the unserved. The Water
and Sanitation Collaborative Council, a global forum, currently acts to
coordinate development and encourage cooperation. Even so, given the
ever-increasing numbers of unserved urban poor populations and the need to
address, in addition, the problem of solid waste disposal, additional
mechanisms are essential to ensure accelerated coverage of urban waste
disposal services. The international community in general and selected
United Nations organizations in particular should:
(a) Launch a settlement infrastructure and environment programme
following the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development to
coordinate the activities of all organizations of the United Nations system
involved in this area and include a clearing-house for information
dissemination on all waste management issues;
(b) Undertake and systematically report on progress in providing
waste services to those without such services;
(c) Review the effectiveness of techniques for and approaches to
increasing coverage and identify innovative ways of accelerating the
process.
Means of implementation
(a) Financing and cost evaluation
21.43. The Conference secretariat has estimated the average total annual
cost (1993-2000) of implementing the activities of this programme to be
about $7.5 billion, including about $2.6 billion from the international
community on grant or concessional terms. These are indicative and
order-of-magnitude estimates only and have not been reviewed by
Governments. Actual costs and financial terms, including any that are
non-concessional, will depend upon, inter alia, the specific strategies and
programmes Governments decide upon for implementation.
(b) Scientific and technological means
21.44. Governments and institutions, together with non-governmental
organizations, should, in collaboration with appropriate organizations of
the United Nations system, launch programmes in different parts of the
developing world to extend waste services to the unserved populations.
These programmes should, wherever possible, build upon and reorient
existing or planned activities.
21.45. Policy changes at the national and local levels could enhance the
rate of waste service coverage extension. These changes should include the
following:
(a) Giving full recognition to and using the full range of low-cost
options for waste management, including, where appropriate, their
institutionalization and incorporation within codes of practice and
regulation;
(b) Assigning high priority to the extension of waste management
services, as necessary and appropriate, to all settlements irrespective of
their legal status, giving due emphasis to meeting the waste disposal needs
of the unserved, especially the unserved urban poor;
(c) Integrating the provision and maintenance of waste management
services with other basic services such as water-supply and storm-water
drainage.
21.46. Research activities could be enhanced. Countries, in cooperation
with appropriate international organizations and non-governmental
organizations, should, for instance:
(a) Find solutions and equipment for managing wastes in areas of
concentrated populations and on small islands. In particular, there is a
need for appropriate refuse storage and collection systems and
cost-effective and hygienic human waste disposal options;
(b) Prepare and disseminate guidelines, case-studies, policy reviews
and technical reports on appropriate solutions and modes of service
delivery to unserved low-income areas;
(c) Launch campaigns to encourage active community participation
involving women's and youth groups in the management of waste, particularly
household waste;
(d) Promote intercountry transfer of relevant technologies,
especially technologies for high-density settlements.
(c) Human resource development
21.47. International organizations and national and local Governments, in
collaboration with non-governmental organizations, should provide focused
training on low-cost waste collection and disposal options, particularly
techniques for their planning and delivery. Intercountry staff exchange
programmes among developing countries could form part of such training.
Particular attention should be given to upgrading the status and skills of
management-level personnel in waste management agencies.
21.48. Improvements in management techniques are likely to yield the
greatest returns in terms of improving waste management service efficiency.
The United Nations, international organizations and financial institutions
should, in collaboration with national and local Governments, develop and
render operational management information systems for municipal record
keeping and accounting and for efficiency and effectiveness assessment.
(d) Capacity-building
21.49. Governments, institutions and non-governmental organizations, with
the collaboration of appropriate organizations of the United Nations
system, should develop capacities to implement programmes to provide waste
collection and disposal services to the unserved populations. Some
activities under the programmes should include the following:
(a) Establishing a special unit within current institutional
arrangements to plan and deliver services to the unserved poor communities,
with their involvement and participation;
(b) Making revisions to existing codes and regulations to permit the
use of the full range of low-cost alternative technologies for waste
disposal;
(c) Building institutional capacity and developing procedures for
undertaking service planning and delivery.
END OF CHAPTER 21
.
===================RRojas Research Unit/1996==========================
