Evaluation Of Solid Waste Management In Qalqilia District

This study describes the problems, issues and challenges of MSWM faced by local authorities in Qalqilia district. Approaches of possible solutions that can be undertaken to improve MSW services are discussed. The study consists of a public survey, survey and discussions with local authorities staff involved in waste management, determination of waste composition by segregation of 30 samples from 5 sites, review of documents and field observation. The study provides information on MSW collection services availability and waste disposal practices in Qalqilia district. It was found that little or no consideration of environmental impacts was paid in the selection of dumpsites. Inspection and monitoring of the dumpsites was not consistent, 46.2% of local authorities dispose waste in open random dumps without any further treatment and 15.4% of local authorities disposes waste in open random dumps and then burn it. 100% of local authorities employ workers in the MSW services without any training and they do not train them later to do their work but they obtain the experience from experiment and from their companion, so they are usually exposed to danger. The collection workers and the vehicle are divided between small localities. Little numbers of waste containers is available in most localities. MSW collection frequency in several villages is around or below 2 times per week. The overall average MSW generation rate per capita for 26 localities in Qalqilia district is 1.46 kg per person per day. The results obtained indicate that more than 83% of MSW could potentially be either recycled or composted. It was noticed that MSWM budget ranges between (3% to 9%) of the total budget and about 42.3% of localities has a MSWM budget less than 3% of the total budget, 34.6% between 3% and 6% and 15.4 between 6% and 9%. Involvement of public is important to achieve any meaningful and sustainable MSWM also explored. Results also show that 97.3% of residents are willing to pay more for better service and 60.6% of residents are willing to separate wastes into organic and inorganic without money but 18.6% are willing with little money. 71.6% of residents are ready to transform organic wastes to natural fertilizer if they were trained.