Household Waste Management in Formal Housing Developments in Afghanistan: A Case Study of Kabul City

Abstract

This study investigated the management of household solid waste in Kabul city, a planned urban city in Kabul Province, Afghanistan. The study involved assessment of waste quantification and composition, handling, collection, and disposal as well as public concern and attitude towards waste management. A questionnaire survey was conducted from 270 households (10%) selected on the basis of stratified random sampling. Quantification/ composition was determined by manually sorting and weighing daily waste from sampled households using the standard method ASTM-D5231-92. The solid waste generated per capita was 0.557±0.138 kilograms per capita per day (kg/c/d) (SD=0.138) and (3.75±0.33 kilograms per household per day (kg/h/d) whereas the total waste generation from Kabul city was estimated at 9.5 tons/d with a major fraction of food waste (92.5%) followed by glass (1.8%), metal and yard waste (1.6% each), paper (1.4%) and plastic (1.1%) insight income families. Nearly one-third of the households had no storage and practiced open disposal in street sand empty plots. Waste collection by the municipal authority was unsystematic and random with daily collection from only 10% of the households mostly using donkey carts. Key issues of public concern were improper solid waste management, waste burning, pollution of water bodies, disposal in empty plots and streets, and open dumping. Public awareness about solid waste issues was high however only 15% showed a willingness to pay for waste management.