Characterization of Household Waste in Kinondoni Municipality, Dar Es Salaam

Abstract

This study was carried out in Kinondoni municipality to determine the per capita daily waste generation rate and waste composition, and correlate these variables with socioeconomic factors of the householders. Questionnaires, interviews, waste characterization, and observation were used in data collection. A sample of 75 respondents residing in middle and low-income settlements were selected for the study. The results showed that the generation rate of household wastes was 0.44 kg/persons/day. On average household solid waste consisted of kitchen/food waste, paper, plastics, glass, metals, aluminium and other wastes, the proportion of each waste was approximately 74.10%, 8.30%, 9%, 0.75%, 0.60%, 0% and 7.25%, respectively An evaluation of the relationship between daily per capita generation of household waste and socio-economic factors indicated a weak positive correlation with household size (r = 0.219, and r = 0.138 for middle and low-income households respectively). While, the obtained value of the Pearson coefficient (r) indicated very weak negative correlation (r = -0. 108 and r= -0.096 for middle and low-income households respectively) between the per capita daily waste generation and the household income. These findings suggest that there is a need to examine other factors that underlie the generation of household wastes.

DOI: 10.5901/ajis.2013.v2n13p35