Abstract:
Solid waste, which is a consequence of day to day activity of human kind, needs to be
managed properly. Bake kelate town faces problems associated with poor household solid
waste management practices. This study provides an assessment of Household solid waste
management practices in Bake kelate town. The study had also specific objectives such as
current status of solid waste management practices at household level, stakeholders’
contribution in Household solid waste management and factors constraining Household solid
waste management in the town .To achieve these objectives mixed method research design
typically explanatory design was used whereas combination of probability and nonprobability
sampling techniques were employed for the selection of respondents.
Questionnaire, interview, field observation and document review were used to gather both
quantitative and qualitative data. The study discovered that, there is low performance of
household solid waste management in Bake kelate town. Ineffective households’ solid waste
management practices; untrustworthy solid waste storage materials, low level of solid waste
separation (40.3 percent), insignificant recovery activities (6.7 percent reuse solid waste, 3.6
percent undertake composting and none of them have recycled at the source), unauthorized
solid waste dumping (64.2percent), undesirable perception against solid waste management
workers and externalizing their responsibilities were manifestation of low performance of
household solid waste management. Limited participation of stakeholders; unsatisfactory
participation of communities, absence of community based organizations involvement, very
limited contribution of Non-Governmental Organizations and informal solid waste collector
sector was another prevailing problem. Institutional related problems; poor institutional
capacity and coordination to fulfill equipment and man power, lack of properly designed
collection system and time schedule, less awareness creation among the society, absence of
formulating and enforcing the implication of rule and regulation in context of the town
aggravated the problem too. On the basis of the said findings, it was recommended that,
execution of sustainable solid waste management systems (reuse, composting and recycling)
through training of community, improvement of institutional capacity and structure, and
implementation of participatory solid waste management approach which comprises all
stakeholders has to be accomplished.
