Quality of life and alliances in solid waste management - Contributions tourban sustainable development

This paper examines the contributions that new alliances in urban solid was te management (SWM) systems can make to the quality of life by improving ef fective provision of this urban basic service, based on case studies of thr ee multi-miliion cities in developing countries: Chennai, India: Manila, Ph ilippines; and Lime, Peru . It starts with a systematic examination of the main types of alliances formed around SWM activities (including formal coll ection, transportation and disposal as well as informal collection, trade, re-use and recycling). These include public-private, public-community, comm unity-private and private-private alliances. The main conclusion is that lo cal authorities work together with large enterprises and non-governmental o rganisations (NGOs), but refuse to deal directly with the informal trade an d recycling enterprises which recover large fractions of waste - linking to them only through NGO or community-based organisation (CBO) mediation. It goes on to examine the contributions different alliances can make to sustai nable development in cities, utilising the multiple goals of sustainable de velopment as developed by Sattertwaite in 1997 (Urban Studies 34 (1997) P66 7). Using a nine-point indicator system, it shows that current, contributio ns of alliances between local authorities and large enterprises lie mainly in the area of improved disposal, cleaner neighbourhoods and financial viab ility. In contrast, alliances between local authorities, NGOs or CBOs and t hrough them informal trade and recycling enterprises contribute more heavil y to financial viability, employment, and cleaner urban neighbourhoods, as well as greater reuse and recycling of waste fractions. (C) 2001 Elsevier S cience Ltd. All rights reserved.