Health

Waste management is often neglected in international development yet the consequences of poor waste management are severe. Open dumping and burning leads to increased respiratory illnesses, insect borne diseases and watery diarrhoea. It is the poorest that bear the heaviest disease burden and for those living in extreme poverty, this can lead to increased mortality.

WasteAid works to raise awareness of the health impacts of poor waste management among donor organisations and the communities we serve. We engage with Health Ministries and local and global healthcare professionals to develop a shared understanding of the public health imperative for waste collection services.

Cross-cutting impact

Sustainable waste management impacts a wide range of development issues. Explore the themes below to gain a greater understanding of how poorly managed waste affects people and planet.

Reducing the costs to society

Research has shown that uncontrolled burning of household waste causes an extra 270,000 premature deaths every year around the world, though the real figure is likely to be much higher.

One of our key partners in The Gambia, Mayor Bensouda of Kanifing Municipal Council, has made waste a priority. Following the first citywide drain clearance event, incidences of malaria dropped by half. The Mayor has since rolled out the country’s first domestic waste collection service and has banned open dumping and burning, bringing significant health benefits to the population and reducing the burden of poor health on society.

Wide-ranging impacts

Each year approximately 9 million people die of diseases linked to mismanagement of waste and pollutants, 20 times more than die from malaria.

Pollution from waste has wide-ranging effects on the human body. For children, the health risks posed by unmanaged waste and poor sanitation are particularly harmful, including:

Doubled levels of diarrhoea

Nutritional malabsorption

Stunting – 4.5cm shorter by 8 years old

Educational underachievement

Six times the level of respiratory illness.

Communities need to be offered a safe alternative for their waste, which WasteAid both advocates for and provides through our programmatic activities.

The danger of dumpsites

Even where waste is collected, there is often no proper disposal site. It is estimated that 40% of the world’s waste is disposed of at informal dumpsites.

For the many people living at dumpsites who scavenge through the waste, there are constant threats of injury, vermin, disease, and most worryingly, being buried alive in falling mountains of waste.

In March 2017, 65 people died when a dumpsite at Addis Ababa in Ethiopia collapsed; a month later, an informal dump of Colombo City in Sri Lanka collapsed, killing 26 and leaving hundreds of families homeless. In 2022 amidst a record-braking heat wave, there were three huge dumpsite fires in Delhi, each taking days to extinguish.

Addressing the human impact

Uncontrolled dumpsites, and in particular the mixing of hazardous and other wastes, can cause disease in neighbouring settlements as well as among waste workers. Mixed waste on dumpsites has little value, and sorting mixed waste can be a dirty and dangerous task.

WasteAid works to support people collecting materials at dumpsites. They are often the most vulnerable and marginalised in society, and their work is undervalued. Through careful consultation and advocacy, WasteAid aims to improve the health, wellbeing and livelihoods of those at the frontline of a circular economy.

Health

Cross-cutting impact

Reducing the costs to society

Wide-ranging impacts

The danger of dumpsites

Addressing the human impact

Help us do more

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Cross-cutting impact

Reducing the costs to society

Wide-ranging impacts

The danger of dumpsites

Addressing the human impact

Help us do more

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