An international partnership for the sustainable development of municipal solid waste management in Guinea-Bissau, West Africa

Most of the developing countries are facing great challenges to manage the increasing quantity of waste produced in the urban areas, that are growing at a very high rate. This paper presents the preliminary results of a technical study aiming at designing the first municipal master plan for the management of urban solid waste in the capital city of Guinea-Bissau, through a sustainable development international partnership. The project is led by the municipality of Bissau. It involves an Italian private enterprise, responsible for the technical transfer of knowledge and experience and count with the support of an international association, which plays the role of cultural bridge to guarantee the translation of innovative knowledge in local and feasible solutions for the African country. The final product of this international partnership should be a master plan, capable to design the waste management strategy for Bissau for the next 10 years, based on accurate data collected about the production and composition of waste in Bissau. The plan would be able to support the local policy makers to create an integrated waste management system, proper for the local characteristics and challenges. Irregular collection service, due to the lack of financial resources, together with a week awareness of the local population about the health and environmental risks related with the current practice of open dumping and burning are the major constrains. The identification of a proper location for a sanitary landfill to substitute the open dumpsite actually used to dispose the unsorted waste, the implementation of an efficient and economically feasible collection system are the current priorities. Future efforts should envisage how to improve and formalize the recycling and reusing activities, that have been realized nowadays informally by waste pickers in armful conditions.