Abstract:
Solid waste management service is one of the major services that city governments are expected to provide to their residents. However, continuous neglect, inappropriate organization, inadequate financing, lack of human resource and the like have hindered the effectiveness of the service delivery in developing countries, especially in Sub-Saharan African countries like Ethiopia. This study was undertaken to examine House hold solid waste management practice in Chelenko town of eastern Ethiopia. In order to accomplish the objectives, both primary and secondary sources were used. The primary data were collected from 400 households and four selected key informants in the town municipality by employing questionnaires and semi structured interview questions respectively. Whereas the secondary data were extracted from different published and unpublished materials. Field observation and reviewing published and unpublished documents were also employed. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data. The finding of this study showed that there was no solid waste collecting, transporting and disposal service provision in the town. This was because of same factors related to households poor waste segregation practice, very poor institutional capacity, weak enforcement of rules and regulations, absence of MSEs and private sector involvements in waste collection and disposal service provision, lack of awareness among the community and poor community participation in SWM systems in the town. Thus it was recommended that responsible bodies mainly the town municipality should pay attention to increase awareness of the community about the importance of safe solid waste disposal for their environment and health. The municipality should also promote private sector involvement in solid waste management activities in the town.
