Development of an integrated solid waste management plan: the case study of student residences of PMB Campus, UKZN.

Abstract

Over the years, the solid waste generation rate has rapidly increased due to population growth. Many countries face the challenge of finding ways to manage this waste. South Africa has signed the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) that must be achieved by the year 2030; this calls for government, private and educational institutions to work together to achieve sustainability as a country. However, research on the quantification and characterization of municipal solid waste in the context of South African universities is limited. This research investigated how municipal solid waste is managed by the University of KwaZulu-Natal Pietermaritzburg campus and recommended sustainable solid waste management strategies (separation at source, recycling, and compositing). Also, the impact of Coronavirus on solid waste and ways of mitigating its spread post-pandemic was considered. The main result of this research was to determine the current waste management strategy employed by the UKZN-PMB campus. It was found that solid waste is sent to the landfill site, which is not sustainable because the Campus has a potential recycling rate of 96%. An average of 52,6kg of waste was generated daily, and each student generated approximately 0,168kg daily. Also, student participation plays a vital role in separating waste at source to encourage the adoption of sustainable practices. The survey showed that 92.7% of the students were willing to separate their waste. It may be deduced that making Higher education institutions sustainable benefits the institutions and contributes towards the bigger picture of sustainable cities.