Inclusive municipal solid waste management policy in Nigeria: engaging the informal economy in post-2015 development agenda

The problem of municipal solid waste has remained intractable in Nigeria despite the state's central role in municipal solid waste management (MSWM). Policy and reforms of the MSWM system have invariably excluded the informal economy, with this exclusion frequently reinforced by uncritical impl...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Local environment 2017-02, Vol.22 (2), p.203-224
Main Authors: Mbah, Peter Oluchukwu, Nzeadibe, Thaddeus Chidi
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Cities
Development policy
Economics
Garbage collection
Implementation
inclusive policy
Informal economy
Interest groups
Management
Municipal solid waste
municipal solid waste management
Municipal waste management
Neoliberalism
Nigeria
Qualitative research
Recycling
Solid waste management
Solid wastes
Sustainable development
sustainable development goals
Waste disposal
Waste management
Workers
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Summary:The problem of municipal solid waste has remained intractable in Nigeria despite the state's central role in municipal solid waste management (MSWM). Policy and reforms of the MSWM system have invariably excluded the informal economy, with this exclusion frequently reinforced by uncritical implementation of neo-liberal development policies. Yet, the informal economy fortuitously remains active in solid waste collection, recycling, and disposal. This article is the aggregate outcome of an 8-year multi-stakeholder engagement in MSWM in Nigerian cities. It draws on insights from first-hand qualitative engagement with informal waste workers, interviews with key stakeholders, policy documents, and relevant literature to situate the Nigerian informal waste economy within current international development discourse. While highlighting the implications of social acceptance and inclusion of the waste economy in post-2015 MSWM and development policy, the study notes the lack of an articulate policy on MSWM in Nigeria and canvasses a specific policy to integrate the ubiquitous informal waste economy in MSWM. The paper suggests that inclusion per sé is central to the sustainable development goals (SDGs), and argues that an inclusive MSWM policy in Nigeria is desirable as it maps onto the SDGs which aim to improve lives in the post-2015 development era.
ISSN:1354-9839
1469-6711
DOI:10.1080/13549839.2016.1188062