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The purpose of this paper is to assess the waste characteristics and separation efficiency of source separation of household waste in low- and middle-income communities in Kumasi Metropolis, Ghana.

A sample of 60 households participated in the household survey, education on source separation and pilot source separation exercise. The solid waste was sorted into six fractions and three recycling categories (biodegradable; paper and plastic; residue).

The mean generation rate of solid waste was 0.52±0.26 kg/per capita/day for the low-income community and 0.65±0.27 kg/per capita/day for the middle-income community. The waste fractions in the communities (low, middle income) were biodegradable organics (59.15, 65.68 per cent), plastics (11.01, 10.68 per cent), papers (3.15, 4.51 per cent), glass (0.89, 2.57 per cent), metals (0.96, 4.63 per cent) and miscellaneous (24.84, 11.93 per cent), respectively. The separation efficiency for organic category was 70 per cent, inorganic and residue was over 69 per cent and the paper and plastics was over 60 per cent.

The study suggests that the success of source separation programme hinges on education and economic incentives. It was noted that the sample size could be increased to enhance the accuracy of the data for prediction purpose.

The findings showed there is potential for recycling through source separation programme in low-and middle-income communities. Public education and economic incentives are necessary for successful source separation programme.

The paper provides insight into source separation to contribute to better understanding of how city authorities in developing countries could take advantage of economic incentives to scale-up recycling.

The purpose of this paper was to determine the effect of route optimization on travel distance, travel time and fuel consumption of municipal solid waste (MSW) collection trucks.

The study modeled the existing waste collection routes in three local authorities in Ghana and proposed optimal routes using Esri’s ArcGIS Network Analyst Extension. The system generated optimal distances and times were validated by subjecting collection trucks to the optimal routes. Paired sample t-test was used to analyze the differences in means of the existing and optimal outcomes. The collected data were subjected to correlation and uncertainty analyses.

Results from the study indicated that weekly travel distance reduced by 81.27 km, translating into saving of 4.79 percent when trucks used the optimal routes. Travel time and fuel consumption reduced by 853.59 min and 145.86 L, making savings of 14.21 and 10.81 percent, respectively. Significant differences occurred between the means of the existing and optimal routes for travel time and fuel consumption, for each of the three local authorities.

The study was conducted in Ghana using data collected from three local authorities.

Significant reduction of MSW collection cost can be achieved by waste management practitioners through route optimization.

The effect of route optimization on travel distance, travel time and fuel consumption has been established. Statistical analyses of the existing and optimal outcomes of the three local authorities have been provided. The findings from this study support the hypothesis that optimal routes reduce operating cost through savings in travel distance, travel time and fuel consumption.

The purpose of this paper is to use relevant models and theories to conceptualize the prospects and challenges associated with private sector involvement in the provision of sanitation and environmental services in urban settlements of developing African economies.

The study adopts the public choice theory and principal-agent model in its conceptualization and analysis. Retrospective literature analysis within the qualitative research approach has been employed for the study. It draws extensively on existing classical theoretical and current empirical literature on privatization of urban sanitation services in developing countries.

The study observes that privatization is a necessary tool for enhancing quality and responsive sanitation service delivery but there must be some mechanisms to prevent any latent challenges. The study also observes that the same problems associated with the public sector could transcend into the private sector if key measures are not taken into consideration.

The process of privatizing or contracting out must ensure competition, enough communication to all stakeholders as well as involving expertise in the bidding process. The process also requires strict monitoring and supervision; these call for an appropriate legal framework to regulate privatization. The paper reminds urban administrators and policy makers to be circumspect in the privatization process. If the process of privatization is carried out effectively, urban sanitation services will be provided effectively and efficiently.

The paper adapts the public choice and principal-agent model to assess privatization processes in developing African countries. This study will be of importance to urban administrators, public officials and policy makers in general.

Waste management has become a topical issue among scholars, practitioners, and industrialists. This study extends the debate on waste within informal communities, highlighting the functionalities of local assemblies in Ghana, a developing country context. This study utilized the desk research regime situated within the qualitative approach. Several sources of data, including key policy documents in context, were used to inform the conclusion reached. The results show a lack of independence of local assemblies to enforce waste management by-laws in informal communities. It further indicates that limited waste management departments within the metropolitan, municipal, and district assemblies (MMDAs) and a lack of funds are to blame for effectively managing waste and sanitation in the informal settlements. Being desk research, the findings of the study should be carefully interpreted to reflect similar settings and characteristics across national, regional, and international contexts. The study explored the nuance of waste and sanitation management and discovered some setbacks to effective waste management, as well as practical ways of addressing them. This research is one of the few to examine waste management and sanitation-related issues within informal communities in a developing country context.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the factors that encourage households’ source separation behaviour in Accra and Tamale Metropolises in Ghana.

Using a cross-sectional design, 855 households of Ghana were interviewed based on the theoretical framework of the theory of planned behaviour (TPB). The ordered probit regression model was employed to examine the factors that influence households’ source separation intention.

The results indicated that educational attainment of head of household, total income of household, occupation type of household head, information, past experience with source separation, inconvenience in terms of time, space and availability of formal source separation scheme, attitude, subjective norm and the location of the respondents significantly predicted households’ solid waste separation intentions.

The cross-sectional design does not determine causality but an association. Thus, future studies should examine actual household waste separation behaviour by using the experimental design to test the TPB model.

To promote solid waste separation at source, the public should be educated and provided with solid waste separation schemes that are efficient and compatible with households’ preference.

This study was partly motivated by the fact that despite the benefits associated with source separation, little attention has been given to formal source separation in Ghana. Moreover, there are limited studies on source separation behaviour in Ghana using the TPB as the theoretical framework.

Poor municipal solid waste management is a major characteristic of urban development in Africa. In Ghana, local governments are mandated to ensure the collection, treatment and disposal of solid waste. However, this has been a herculean task for local governments in Ghana, owing to inadequate resources and weak technical capacities. This has prompted calls for, and actual involvement of the private sector through public-private partnerships (PPPs) in municipal solid waste management, particularly in the urban areas. This study aims to assess the roles, effectiveness and challenges of PPPs in urban waste management in the Sunyani municipality of Ghana.

Adopting a case study design, the study used a qualitative research approach to provide in-depth insights into PPPs in municipal solid waste management in the Sunyani municipality of Ghana. Therefore, key informant interviews and two focus group discussions were conducted.

The study revealed that some policies and actions of the local government (Assembly) do not positively facilitate the effective functioning of PPPs in municipal solid waste management. There is also lack of effective stakeholder consultation, collaboration and grassroot inclusion in the PPPs which affect the effective management of the increasing volumes of solid waste being generated within the municipality.

To achieve the objectives of the PPP arrangements, local authorities should initiate steps to effectively coordinate all the involved private companies. There must also be ways of involving the beneficiaries in the design and implementation of PPPs on waste management to allow for effective grassroots and participatory monitoring and evaluation.

The uniqueness of the case study being a mid-sized and secondary city in a developing country enhances the value of the findings and the application of recommendations in cities with similar characteristics and initiatives in improving PPPs in municipal waste management.

Informal settlements are frequently located in hazardous areas with a high risk of natural disasters. Upgrading informal settlements can be difficult due to the time and expense needed to complete the process. This chapter advocates using a management framework of public services in informal settlements. In doing so, it addresses 17 of the 17 UN sustainable development goals (SDGs). The study reviewed the literature to investigate current ways of managing environmental enterprises in informal settlements in South Africa. Thereafter, the challenges of managing public services were explored, and a conceptual framework for managing public services by social enterprises in such communities was developed. The chapter found that environmental enterprises are classified as ‘green spaces’ and infrastructure, water and sanitation services, energy systems, and recycling initiatives. Essential aspects of sustainable community-based facilities management (SCbFM) for managing public services are maintenance, governance, community project management, environment service delivery, service performance, governance, community project management, environment service delivery, service performance, well-being and health and safety, disaster management, and finance. Some of the problems of managing public services in informal settlements include the limited skills of managers, the focus of government on new projects rather than managing existing projects, not choosing the right indicators to measure service performance, and limited guidelines for the health and safety of managers and disaster management. Thus, a new conceptual framework was needed and developed based on the principles of social capital and capability for managing services in informal settlements in South Africa.

The aim of this paper is to examine the motives behind the separation of household waste (or the lack of such separation) on the basis of the theory of interpersonal behaviour. The aim of this paper is to broaden and deepen the understanding of key determinants of household waste separation (or the lack of such separation). This study proposes a conceptual model based on the theory of interpersonal behaviour in combination with the focus theory of normative conduct.

A quantitative method was applied to investigate the views of 350 heads of households in the Johannesburg metropolitan area through an administered questionnaire. Structural equation modelling was employed to test the hypothesised structural relationships in the proposed model.

The results indicate that household waste separation intention is influenced by cognition of the consequences and by injunctive and personal normative pressures. Separation intention and past habits were found to have a direct influence on actual separation behaviour.

While the theory of planned behaviour is ubiquitous in the recycling literature, this study presents a different, broader framework for a better understanding of the drivers of household waste separation. This is achieved by applying the theory of interpersonal behaviour in combination with the focus theory of normative conduct. The findings provide insights that could help municipalities in emerging markets to promote household waste separation for better management of the environment.

Urban-based local government authorities (LGAs) have embarked on outsourcing solid waste management to community-based organizations (CBOs) for attaining sustainable cities and community’s goal. However, the effectiveness of outsourcing this function to CBOs remains unclear. This study contributes to this debate by citing three urban LGAs from Tanzania.

This study was conducted in Tanzania specifically to urban LGAs. This study employed a qualitative research approach. Data were collected through interviews and focus group discussions with outsourced groups and analyzed through thematic approach.

This study found that outsourcing solid waste management benefits both LGAs and groups. On the one hand, LGAs collect revenues out of this arrangement and groups improve their income on the other. However, groups’ operational environment is confronted by poor infrastructure, inadequate collection tools and poor community awareness and readiness.

This study focused on only three LGAs. Studies are recommended for other urban LGAs in Tanzania to extend the scope of the debate. Again, this study confined itself to the effectiveness of outsourcing solid waste collection to groups, but did not focus on how LGAs use revenue collected to improve the waste management, this welcomes further studies to be conducted.

The experienced operational environment creates difficulties for groups in waste collection and might result in some waste being uncollected.

Governments all over the world are increasingly entering into partnership agreement with the private sector through public–private partnership (PPP) models for the development and management of public projects and services. Thus, the purpose of this study is to first examine the factors that enter into government's attitude, value for money (VFM) and PPP-based waste management projects (WMPs) in Ghana. Further, this study examines the relationship between PPP-based waste management and VFM, along with the mediating role of government's attitude.

Data were collected through a survey questionnaire from four metropolitan municipal assemblies of Ghana. This study’s sample consisted of 230 respondents, and structural equation modeling was employed to conduct an empirical analysis. The structured model had evaluated the critical success factors (CSFs). Subsequently, the measurement model helped in the path analysis of the proposed model.

The authors found a nonpositive relationship between PPP-based WMPs and VFM; however, government's attitude will influence the achievement of VFM. Reliance on quality targets is ranked as the highest CSF in PPP-based WMPs in Ghana. Also, incentives for private sector participation and effective private sector participation are ranked as the least CSFs.

Most of the questionnaire's items were self -rated by employees of municipal assemblies who were not policymakers. This must have increased the possibility of common method bias. In addition, the study was limited to Ghana (a developing economy); therefore, the generalization of the results should be done with much caution.

This study suggests to develop a network of private sector consortiums considering international and national participants who are engaged in PPPs in order to ensure successful delivery and hence valuing for money.

This study offers a novel perspective to investigate the relationship of PPP-based WMPs and VFM and shows how the government's attitude mediates this relationship.