Post COVID-19 recovery: Challenges and opportunities for solid waste management in Africa

Abstract

The current COVID-19 pandemic has significantly altered the quantity and composition of waste generated on the African continent. This new phenomenon, coupled with the indiscriminate disposal of used personal protective equipment (PPEs), poses serious challenges to local authorities, most of whom have limited experience or lack the strategy to handle this occurrence. These PPEs, like the face masks, are made up of polymeric materials that are liquid resistant and remain for a long time in the environment after discard. Thus, they are considered as a significant source of plastic pollution in the environment. Notwithstanding the environmental challenges associated with COVID-19, if Africa is to be ready for the expected growth in waste generation and variation in waste composition in the coming century as predicted by the African waste management outlook report in 2018, she has to have a renewed focus and seize the unique opportunities that COVID-19 presents. The continent has to indulge in introspection of its shortfalls in managing waste and consciously make efforts that would ensure social and technological innovation and investment in services and infrastructure in the waste and secondary resources sector than never before seen in Africa. This approach would help the continent achieve its waste management vision of extending regular and reliable waste collection services to all while valorizing waste generated. This critical review paper reveals the silver lining in the dark cloud of the COVID-19 pandemic by highlighting some of the noticeable environmental challenges in Africa due to the current pandemic and elucidating the rare opportunities that African countries can harness to improve the waste management sector.

Fig. 1

Total MSW generation (103 tonnes/year) of African countries in 2012 (A) and 2025 (B) (United Nation Environment Programme (UNEP), 2021; Godfrey et al., 2020).

Fig. 2

MSW composition in (a) sub-Saharan Africa and (b) Global MSW composition (United Nation Environment Programme (UNEP), 2021; Godfrey et al., 2020).

Fig. 3

(a) Face mask usage per day (b) Medical waste generated per day for Western Africa (WA), Eastern Africa (EA), Northern Africa (NA), Central Africa (CA), and Southern Africa (SA).