Unbalanced status and multidimensional influences of municipal solid waste management in Africa

The overall status of MSW management in Africa is evaluated systematically, in sight of life cycle indicators such as MSW generation daily per capita, collection and treatment methods. The relations of life cycle indictors with driving factors, including economic level, geographical location, urbanization and solid waste legislation process, are discussed. The results present that the major indicators had obvious regional differences, which can divide Africa into three levels: North Africa and South Africa > West Africa and Central Africa > East Africa. Besides, the disposal methods in North Africa, South Africa and West Africa have evolved from simple open dumping to sanitary landfill, composting and recycle treatment, while opening dumping is still rampant in East Africa. With a combination tool of Principal Component Analysis and Multiple Linear Regression, it was identified that economic growth, urbanization and geographical location are the most critical factors influencing the unbalanced statue of MSW management in Africa. By cluster analysis, unbalance status of MSW management in African countries can be integrated into three grades of MSW management level: good, fair and poor.