Urban waste, African cities and megacities are “polluting bombs” that are scary, but international cooperation seems to ignore them

ROMA – All that today decisions regarding municipal solid waste will certainly have to do with the future of national communities around the world. Let’s open a brief parenthesis about African cities and megacities, which are increasingly real “pollution bombs”. For those like us of Solidarity World has been dealing with humanitarian projects of international cooperation for more than 15 years now, it is very strange to note that there are not many intervention programs in poor countries for waste management. Indeed: although we happened to go around the world to talk about the help and support work of NGOs or international cooperation agencies, of projects attentive to the phenomenon of disposal and treatment of solid urban waste, we have not seen even one .

Scary accumulation and disposal methods. Having said that, we happened to read a report from the Lloyd’s Register Foundation, titled: A World of Waste: risks and opportunities in household waste management, where they lay bare the environmental disasters of African cities and megacities that squander the economic opportunities that waste could hold. Waste collection systems are brutal and destructive to the environment. All we do is set fire to veritable mountains of rubbish of all kinds, which are literally scary.

8 billion of precious resources are wasted. The study shows and quantifies the amount of value lost due to this criminal waste management. In fact, it has been calculated that Africa – globally considered – is losing around 8 billion dollars in precious resources, due to a management that – we repeat – our parameters of judgment can only define as criminal. One of the fundamental points of support for fair and sustainable development – as underlined by research – is certainly the tolerable management of waste.

The change of approach that is needed. Therefore, a change in the policies of African governments is urgently needed, on the one hand, but also a different logic of intervention for humanitarian aid, which should be oriented as soon as possible on these issues, leaving aside – at least momentarily – the equally important issues related to culture, to professional training, to the conservation of biodiversity.