Malawi is currently facing challenges related to the poor management of chemicals and waste, which is adversely impacting human health and the environment. Nearly all cities in Malawi lack adequate waste collection, treatment, and disposal facilities. This puts people’s health at risk while contaminating the water bodies and land they depend upon.
The current annual waste generation for Lilongwe, the largest city in Malawi, is 553 tons a day – equivalent to 553,000 garbage bags weighing 10 kilograms (KG) each and for Blantyre, the second-largest city, the annual waste generation is 435 tons per day, equivalent to 435,000 garbage bags weighing 10 kg each. Roughly 72 per cent of this, and all waste in the country, finds its way to open dumpsites or is burnt.
Plastics make up 8.5 per cent of items found in the country’s landfills, and the government has little data on the types and volume of chemicals used across sectors nor their disposal methods. With economic development and rapid population growth, it will be even harder to combat problems associated with waste.
Malawi is launching a three-year initiative to develop sound chemicals and waste management practices to address these challenges. Backed by the United Nations Environment Programme’s (UNEP’s) Chemicals and Waste Management Programme, activities will focus on raising public awareness, piloting a plastics recycling project, and establishing an integrated information management system for chemicals and waste.
Many people in Malawi are neither aware of how they contribute to the country’s worsening waste management problem nor how they can solve it. Thus, using the media to raise public awareness around waste management will set the stage for the success of current and future activities. In tandem, key staff representing public institutions, NGOs, academia, and government agencies will be trained on best waste management practices so they can in turn educate others.
The recycling component of the project, containing an existing waste transfer station, will be equipped with a recycling machine that will turn this non-biodegradable material into pellets that can be sold to local plastics recycling facilities. Subsequently, the pellets can be used to make an assortment of everyday products, thereby reducing the plastics’ environmental impact. Through the implementation of a gender action plan, the surrounding local communities, including women, children and the youth shall be empowered to manage waste. Once proven as environmentally and economically prudent, Malawi will look towards implementing large-scale plastic recycling across the country.
A crucial step to improve chemical and waste management is obtaining quality data to guide long-term strategies. The anticipated integrated information management system will make this possible through data gathered by local authorities, housed and accessible through an online system. It will enable the Government of Malawi and environmental stakeholders to effectively monitor the life-cycle of chemicals and waste to ensure they are safely managed.
After the successful conclusion of this project, Malawi will be better positioned to continue finding and implementing innovative solutions to effective chemical and waste management. Such efforts will help Malawi meet its international obligations and also achieve key national development goals.
For further information please contact the Special Programme Secretariat at unepchemicalsspecialprogramme@un.org
