Established in 2007, the Union of Municipalities of Oussat wa Sahil Al Qaytaa is the southernmost union on the coast of the Governorate of Akkar. It is considered one of the most vulnerable in terms of access to income, housing, health, education and Water, Sanitation and Hygiene.
The Union does not have any efficient system to sort and treat solid waste, which makes it incapable of dealing with its recurrent waste crisis. The Solid Waste Demonstration project aimed to assist the Union of Municipalities of Oussat wa Sahel El Qaytaa in optimising the Solid Waste Management (SWM) system by increasing the collection capacity and efficiency, contributing to reduced waste generation and improving community awareness.
Capacity Development activities
The first training set targeted the Heads of Municipalities and waste collection crews. Then additional training activities were organised targeting local NGOs and community representatives, particularly schools and hospitals. The workshops tackled different subjects of the waste management cycle, like production, storage, collection, sorting, treatment and landfilling.
New Collection Scheme
A new collection scheme was defined by analysing waste generation rates per municipality, population, current collection capacity and state of the existing containers. The Geographic Information System (GIS) was used in the planning process of the new collection scheme. The Catalan Agency for Development Cooperation (ACCD) provided steel and plastic waste containers of different sizes to increase the collection capacity.
Assisted by a local NGOs and volunteers this was followed by an awareness-raising campaign educating citizens on the importance of waste reduction and good practices for sorting and disposing of waste, reaching 3,200 households.
Towards Project Sustainability
Guided by the Union Geographic Information System, Waste collection staff and private service providers as subcontracted by the municipalities, were involved in decisions regarding the location of containers and collection routes. Furthermore, they were trained in organising daily solid waste collection and management operations based on data which will allow for a more efficient and effective system.