Current situation of solid waste management in East African countries and the proposal for sustainable management

Effects of unsustainable solid waste management are found all around the world but it is worse in developing and under developed countries like East African Community (EAC) countries. A big proportion of their solid waste is not properly managed. This paper highlighted the situation of solid wastes management in EAC countries and compared with other countries. More than 62.5% of generated solid waste in EAC is organic, 19.6% of papers and plastics, 3% of glasses while other kind of waste occupies 14.9%. Waste management (WM) system in developing countries is dominated by insanitary landfill which cover more than 59% of the total collected SW, between 13 and 33% is openly dumped, a negligible quantity is recycled while between 6 and 26% is inappropriately thrown. Only less than 50% of the total generated solid waste (SW) in developing countries is collected and this is the same case in EAC. Sanitary landfill, sustainable composting, waste to energy (WTE) and other recycling system can change waste from unwanted materials to important products. Almost all generated wastes in developed and highly developing countries are collected, with high generation site sorting and sustainably treated and managed. Some countries achieved zero landfilling while others have sanitary landfills. The final destination of each kind of waste in developed countries determine collection mean and improve the quality of raw materials for recycling companies. Value of sorted waste to the recycling companies improves the interest of generation site sorting and maximization collection.   Key words: Solid waste management, East African Community (EAC), waste collection system, future waste management, level of income, waste prioritization, sustainable solid waste management.