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 The City of Joal in Senegal, West Africa has embarked on a comprehensive solid waste management project that has the potential to become a model sorely needed throughout many developing countries. After a waste composition analysis revealed that 80% of the waste stream was organic (typical in developing countries), working with its partners Peace Corps, Tostan, WWF, and Aprosen, the City pursued a system that centers on low-tech, non-mechanized composting, recycling plastic waste and safely landfilling the remaining trash.
 A serious lack of solid waste management has created significant and growing health and environmental crises in many African countries. By addressing every aspect of the problem from collection to disposal and by utilizing simple, economical methods, this project provides a working model that can be replicated in other communities. It establishes user-fees; creates a reliable collection system; provides education about and enforcement of, illegal dumping and littering; removes hazardous waste; supports existing recycling and turns most of the waste stream into profitable, organic fertilizer.
Impact and Successes:
- The pilot project successfully implemented into two neighborhoods serving 136 families (1,441 people) and five small businesses was recently expanded into two more neighborhoods and nine businesses (1,945 citizens)
- Complete understanding and cooperation with sorting waste into two different illustrated containers (one for organics and the other for non-organics) and compliance with prohibition against dumping close to 100%.
- Investment of an Italian NGO to add a plastic separation component to the project, recycling the plastic waste at a processing plant that fabricates and sells plastic pellets to factories in Dakar
- City personnel experimented with different composting methods and developed one that is yielding (21.94) metric tons in first year) an organic compost of quality higher than that of chemical fertilizer according to three laboratory tests at the University of Dakar and an on-site scientific crop yield test.
- Marketing plan developed and City charges for 50 kilogram compost bags. In five months demand exceeds supply. Pro-forma concludes that when program is citywide, proceeds from compost sales will fully finance the operation of both the compost and the landfill systems and actually turn a profit.
The project was developed with replication in mind. The model of incrementally advancing the waste management system is one of the major reasons for the success in Joal. Working with municipal governments and utilizing its acclaimed committee management structure, the NGO Tostan proposes to expand the project to the following cities:
- Expand the Joal system City-wide and to the island of Fadiouth
- Expand to the City of Mbour (33 km. north of Joal -- 20 neighborhoods)
- Expand to the City of Thies (42 km. north of Mbour – 40 neighborhoods)
The Solid Waste Management Project entails providing: two plastic waste containers per family/business with illustrations; special containers for public places; educational signs; 300² meter compost facility per 8 neighborhoods; donkeys and carts; landfill; media campaign, educational curricula, battery return program, and administrative, training and personnel costs.
View the Joal Solid Waste Management Project video
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