Solid Waste Management in Gaza Strip
Problems and Solutions
Eng. Yasser D. Abu El Qomboz 1 , Prof.Dr.-Ing. habil . G.Busch 2
ABSTRACT
The Gaza Strip is a coastal area along the eastern Mediterranean Sea. By it is location, Gaza Strip is the
gateway on the crossroad between Asia, Africa and Europe. The area of Gaza Strip is 365 km2 (40km long
and 6 to 12km wide), 80 km2 is occupying by the Jewish Settlements.
The Strip is bounded by the Green Line which is the border with Israel from the north and east. Egypt bounds
the Strip from the south, and the Mediterranean Sea is the western border.
Gaza City is the biggest city in Gaza Strip, its area 45 km2. Gaza Strip is located in a transitional zone
between the arid desert of the Sinai and semi-humid Mediterranean climate along the coast. The weather is
rather dry in summer season from April till October, and rainy in the winter season from November until
March. The average daily mean temperature ranges from 25 co in summer to 13co in winter. Mean Annual
rainfall at Gaza is 400mm.
Gaza Strip is currently populated with1.000.517 (PCBS) distributed in 5 Governorates, 24 cities, camps and
villages. Half of them are refugees, they were kicked out from their original villages in 1948 which now
under Israel’s occupation.
The refugees are living in 8 refugee camps distributed among Gaza Strip. The rate of growth in Gaza
Governorates is one of the highest rates in the world, which is 4.5% annually. The religion of the country is
the Islam and the Arabic Language is the native language for all inhabitants. Gaza City is populated with
about 400,000 inhabitants.
Israelis left Gaza with destroyed infrastructure and bad roads. Salah El Din Road is the Major Road in Gaza
Strip, the road connects all Gaza Governorates from north to south. Networks of roads were developed later
to serve all Gaza Cities and Villages.
KEYWORDS
Biological decomposition, Combustion, Composting, Field Capacity, Incineration,
Integrated Municipal Solid Waste Management, Landfill, Municipal Solid Waste (MSW),
Recycling, Transfer station, Waste management hierarchy.
INTRODUCTION
When the term solid waste management is mentioned, many people think only of
technology large trucks and incinerators. In fact, though the choice of the technology is
important, the subject is much broader than the equipment, and a wide range of aspects
should be considered when reviewing the needs and strengths of the system used to collect
and dispose of solid waste. The political, institutional, social, economic and environmental
contexts must be considered carefully and comprehensively.
1
Environmental Quality Authority (EQA), State of Palestine , E-mail: [email protected]
Brandenburg University of Technology, Department :Solid Waste Management, Germany
2
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When the Palestinian Authority took control of the Gaza Strip and Jericho in 1994 there
were many weaknesses in the solid waste management system that was inherited from
the Israeli Civil Administration, partly because of the uprising or intifada. During the
time of Israeli occupation the mayors were not changed, taxes were not being paid as
protest, and waste containers were burned and damaged as a gesture of protest.
The deteriorating economical conditions faced by many Palestinians (as a result of
border closures by the Israelis) motivated the International Community to look for
ways of alleviating the suffering by means of job creation schemes. Such schemes have
included mass street sweeping programmes in Gaza to collect the fine sand which
quickly accumulates on the roads.
Solid waste management continues to be seen as an important issue. There is particular
concern in the Gaza Strip about the area of land that will be required for landfill
disposal of waste, and whether sanitary landfilling is a sustainable option for Gaza. The
uncertainty over the political future makes the situation much more difficult, and in
many towns and villages waste is burned in the streets or dumped beside a road just
outside the built-up area. In Gaza many of the environmental problems are caused by
the small size of the area with high population density. The increase in population
during the last 49 years was substantial. From 1948 to 1997, the total population tripled
from 260,000 to 1.000.517 (PCBS). The natural population increase is estimated to be
around 4.5%. Gaza strip has one of the highest population densities in the world, and it
is approximately 2,170 persons per square Km.
The number of workers inside Israel has been reduced significantly due to the policy to
substitute Palestinian laborers with foreign laborers. This trend has adversely affected
the economic conditions of the population. With limited opportunities to find work in
the Gaza strip, even after the influx of donor money, the general trend is a growing
unemployment, and has reached levels of 60% of the active labor force. 30% of the
active labor force in Gaza is working in the agricultural area, and around 10% working
in small-scale industry.
Probably the greatest problem is the shortage of good quality water - the salinity of the
groundwater is high in some areas and in other parts of the Gaza Strip there is a high
nitrate content. Other problems like the scarcity of the governmental land and the high
cost of private land make the situation more difficult especially when the land is
required to construct a wastewater treatment plant or a sanitary landfill. Major
industries include textile and tile manufacture, which produce significant quantities of
slurry in addition to small workshops and food industries. There is a strong agricultural
sector in spite of the shortage of land and the low organic content of the soil.
Composted manure is purchased from Israel. Pesticides and fertilizers are used
intensively, and greenhouses are common - stretching plastic film over a metal
framework makes them. Drip irrigation techniques are often used. As a result there are
large quantities of plastic waste resulting from agriculture.
This paper is an attempt to summarise the current situation with regard to solid waste
management in Palestine, in the hope that it may provide an introduction to the situation
for those local experts and decision makers and those foreign experts coming to the
region to work in the field of waste management. In this paper was not intended to
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cover all aspects of solid waste. This paper was focused on practical aspects of solid
waste management in the Palestinian territories.
The Ministry of Local Government is directly involved with the municipalities and the
operation and financing of solid waste collection and, as such, has a major role in solid
waste management.
SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT
It is often claimed that the lack of data about waste composition and quantities is a
major factor, which has inhibited the development of solid waste management in
Palestine. This is probably an exaggeration. It is true that there are major geographical
variations in the amount and type of wastes generated per person, and that a precise
design of a system benefits from accurate data about waste quantities and nature, but a
huge amount of effort is involved in obtaining data that are sufficiently accurate and
reliable, unless all the waste is routinely weighed on a weighbridge. It is relatively
quick and easy to obtain some figures on the amount of waste produced per person in a
day, but the accuracy and reliability of such data are questionable. There are daily and
seasonal variations in the waste coming from one particular place, there are socioeconomic factors which cause geographical variations, and there are many different
sources of waste apart from homes. Methods of estimation of solid waste generation
rates often suffer from uncertainties about the number of persons contributing to the
measured waste, and also sometimes the length of time for which the measured waste
had been accumulating. If loads are not routinely weighed, the most reliable guide is
probably provided by counting the number of trucks arriving at the disposal site, and by
weighing a random sample of them is a public weighbridge is available in the
neighbourhood.
An important parameter in the design of waste management systems is the density of the
waste, and though this is different at different points of the waste management process,
it is a parameter that can be measured relatively easily with a satisfactory degree of
accuracy and reliability. Solid waste density is an important factor in the selection and
design of solid waste collection equipment. Some very high densities have been
measured in refugee camps in the Gaza Strip; the results were probably so high because
of a high content of sand and high moisture contents.
The total quantities of different solid waste generated are estimated in the year 2000
over 300255 tons/year and the average municipal solid wastes per each person are1.0
Kg/day.
The findings of the GTZ project Adviser at the Middle Area are 0.7-0.8 kg/person/day.
Wastes density was also estimated as 250-600 kg/m3.
The Quantities of wastes generated in Gaza Strip based on the above mentioned
assumptions are shown in Table No. 1
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Table 1: Quantities of Wastes Generated in the Gaza Strip
NO.
1
2
3
Name of governorates
Quantity of Solid waste ( ton / year )
%
Northern governorate
35405
12
Gaza governorate
140850
47
Middle and Khan Yunis
88000
29
governorate
4
Rafah governorate
36000
12
Total
300255
100
Source: CDG Training Course for Solid Waste Management in Gaza Strip 2000
There are wide differences between the per capita generations of MSW in countries of
different economic levels. Table 2 provides the per capita generation of MSW, in the
year 2000 in the eight Arab and in some other countries.
Table 2 : per Capita Generation of MSW in some Arab and other Countries
(Year 2000)
Arab Countries
MSW Generation
Other Countries
MSW Generation
( Kg/c.d )
( Kg/c.d )
Bahrain
1.6
Canada
1.65
Egypt
1.2
Denmark
1.32
Jordan
0.9
Finland
( 0.47 )
Kuwait
( 1.8 )*
France
0.9
Saudi Arabia
1.3
Germany
0.8
Syria
0.5
Japan
1.26
Tunisia
0.6
Netherlands
1.04
Yemen
( 0.45 )**
USA
( 1.98 )
Source: International Conference on the Management of Hazardous and Non-Hazardous
Waste, Muscat Sultanate of Oman, 16-18 December 2002. *( ) Largest
**( ) Lowest
CATEGORIES OF SOLID WASTE IN GAZA STRIP
Solid waste includes all types of waste produced by various domestic solid wastes
(DSW), commercial waste, industrial and agricultural wastes, construction and
Domelation(C&D) waste. Household solid waste (HHSW) is the remains of food
basically from animal or plants such as grease, fats, bones, skin, meat, vegetables, fruits,
grains etc. It also includes papers, textiles, glass and empty refreshment cans. HHSW
also include restaurants and hotels wastes. The cities and the different population areas
are the sources of this waste where there are a lot of restaurants and hotels. Commercial
solid waste includes paper, cartons, wood, tires, used oils, used furniture and electronic
appliances such as refrigerators and heaters etc.. The sources of commercial wastes are
stores, commercial malls, markets and organization of the governmental and private
companies.
COMPOSITION OF SOLID WASTES IN GAZA STRIP
The amounts and composition of solid waste generating usually change from country to
country and from a residential to a residential area. The studies carried out in many
countries indicate that each person output of household wastes is different from one
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country to another and that there is close relation between population, national income
on the state as well as person’s level. MSW
The average typical composition (% by weight) consisted of 67.0 % organic matter, 8 %
paper, 2 % textiles, 7 % plastics, 2 % glass, 2 % metals, sand 10% and 2 % others.
Table (3): The Components and Quantity of Municipal Solid Waste in Gaza Strip
Composition
Organic Paper Meta Glass Textile Plasti Sand
Other
l
s
c
% by wet weight
67.0
8
2
2
2
7
10
2
Source: CDG Training Course for Solid Waste Management in Gaza Strip 2000.
Compostition of solid wastes in Gaza strip
Sand
10%
Plastic
7%
Textiles
2%
Other
2%
Organic
Paper
Glass
2%
Metal
Glass
Metal
2%
Textiles
Paper
8%
Plastic
Organic
67%
Sand
Other
Figure (2) :Show the composition of solid wastes in Gaza.
The composition of MSW in the eight Arab cities and in some other locations abroad is
given in Table 4.
Table 4: Composition of Municipal Solid Waste (% by weight)
City, Location
Category
Food Waste
Aden
Bombay
USA,av
34
68
58
11.2
20.6
31
10
10
37.4
3.4
12.6
2
11
11
10.7
2.2
2.6
16
4
2
7.8
Amman
Bahrain
Cairo
Kuwait
59.4
54.5
59
67
50
10.7
13.1
14
12.8
18
10.8
11.5
13.2
7.44
5
0.8
2.4
2.05
17.1
Riyad
Tunis
Aleppo
h
Paper and
Paper board
Plastics
Metals
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Glass
2.7
7.6
2.8
3.39
2.5
3.3
3
N
3
5.5
Wood
N
0.5
N
N
N
4.8
10
N
N
5.5
& leather Yard
5.6
3.7
4.7
6.92
0.5
4.8
2
2
N
6.7
trimmings
N
N
N
N
N
N
N
N
N
12
Other
48.1
3.4
8.4
8.4
6.4
1.3
2
5
16
3.2
Textile, rubber
Source: International Conference on the Management of Hazardous and Non-Hazardous
Waste, Muscat Sultanate of Oman, 16-18 December 2002. N: Not available, or included
in other
MAIN PROBLEMS OF SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT IN GAZA STRIP
Growth rate, Geographical distribution and population density in Gaza strip.
• Land shortage.
• Lack of data in the field of Solid Waste.
• Limitation of design period of landfill.
• Lack of exact knowledge about Solid Waste Quantity that is transported to the
landfill.
• Lack of proposed area for the medical wastes and hazardous wastes to dispose.
• Lack of planning and policy for the solid wastes and hazardous wastes
management.
• weakness of institutional organization of the municipality and the lack of
citizens’ willingness-to-pay
• Insufficient awareness of environmental health risks of solid and hazardous
wastes.
• Shortage of containers of solid waste and the poor design of those containers.
• Lack of occupational qualification and skilled labors in the of field solid and
hazardous wastes management.
• Insufficient coordination amongst employees in the field of solid wastes and
hazardous wastes management.
• Insufficient number of sanitary landfill.
• Insufficient monitoring system of sanitary landfill
• Lack of necessary machinery to collect and transport solid wastes by some of
municipalities.
• Open dump disposal of hazardous wastes.
• Political obstacles to implementation of some Solid wastes programs and
projects.
Three types of solid waste management system are in Gaza strip: Storage and
collection, Transportation, and Disposal
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Solid Waste Management
Disposal
Transportation
Storage & Collection
Figure (3): Show the three systems of solid wastes in Gaza
Storage and collection systems
Tow types of collection system are commonly used in Gaza strip. In most cases
community storage is by means of bulk bins provided by the municipality, though some
areas must be served by house-to-house collection in the short term because this is the
type of service that residents are accustomed to and any other would lead to widespread
dumping of domestic waste on the ground. By house-to-house collection is usually solid
waste collected in plastic bags and located at the curbside in front of the houses, or in
roll carts distributed in the residential areas. Different systems (compactor trucks, rollon, roll-off [or arm-roll] containers, open trucks etc.) are already in use, and in many
cases it may be appropriate to provide items that are compatible with the existing
equipment. It is probably necessary to empty community bins at least three times a
week.
Burning frequently damages storage containers. The contents are probably set on fire
deliberately by residents who think that burning is necessary because of the bulk or the
smell of the waste. The resulting smoke, as the waste burns for many hours, is very
much more hazardous to health than the odour of the unburned waste, and the
containers are damaged since they corrode quickly after their protective paint is burned
off, and any plastic or rubber components are burned or damaged.
It appears that most of the containers are fabricated locally, and so can be designed to
be strong enough to handle waste, and to resist the greater corrosion potential resulting
from the higher moisture and vegetable contents.
TRANSPORTATION
The selection of equipment for collecting solid waste is often made quickly and with
insufficient consideration for local conditions and practices. Often the result is that the
vehicles supplied in this way are unsuitable for the duty expected of them - they are
overloaded because of the high density of the waste and difficulties are experienced in
repairing them because they are of a type that is not common in the receiving country
and so spare parts and repair skills are not widely available.
It is important to co-ordinate the types of collection vehicle with the systems that are
currently being operated, with local conditions (such as road width and slope, and
extent of paving - in the case of containers with wheels) and with the density of the
waste. Some proposals for compactor trucks recommend bodies that are much too large
for the type of waste that may be loaded, with the result that, when full, the trucks will
be seriously overloaded and likely to require frequent repair. The needs of each locality
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should be determined before vehicles are specified. In fact, the whole of the solid waste
management system (storage, collection and disposal) should be considered when
specifying any equipment.
A wide range of collection systems is found within Palestine. Some residents have the
waste collected from their doors by street sweepers with wheelbarrows. In some areas
of Gaza City (where donkeys are commonly used for pulling carts) a house-to-house
collection service is provided using donkey carts, from which the waste is transferred to
a skip container. Rear-loading compactor serves most cities trucks, which empty
wheeled bins of capacity about 1 m3. Hook-lift (also called arm-roll or roll off)
containers are also found in most cities. Many of the truck bodies were fabricated in
Israel, though some donors have shipped complete trucks from Europe. Agricultural
tractors pulling trailers serve some villages.
Crane-tippers are found in many parts of the Gaza Strip. Most were designed as part of
the GTZ/SWMC project; each truck has a hydraulically-operated truck-mounted crane
which lifts and empties containers into a large body which can be closed at the top by
pivoted flaps, and is emptied by tipping. The bodies of these trucks, like the containers
they use, were fabricated in Gaza. A crew of two - one driver and one assistant operates
the trucks. A new system, which is used in conjunction with crane tipper trucks, is
house-to-house collection using a small agricultural tractor, which has an attachment at
the rear to enable it to carry one 1 m3 container. When full, the container can be left at
the roadside for a crane tipper to pick up and empty.
HAZARDOUS WASTES
There is currently no definition to specify which wastes are considered hazardous.
Many industrial and commercial sources are small, such as dry-cleaning businesses
(discarding organic solvents), photographic laboratories (discarding used processing
chemicals), garages (waste lubricating oil), woodworking and metal fabrication shops
(paints, cleaning chemicals), and tanneries (heavy metals). Many of these wastes are
liquids, but can be classed as solid wastes if they are transported in tanks or containers
and may be deposited on solid waste disposal sites.
Some work has been done by the EQA, in conjunction with the Ministry of Health, to
collect information about current practices relating to the management of wastes
generated in hospitals and other healthcare facilities. It appears that hospitals have no
comprehensive system for segregating hazardous biological and chemical wastes from
other general wastes, and that many dangerous wastes are deposited in communal
containers where children and animals have access to them. Children like playing with
syringes and some have been injured by them - and such injuries are able to transmit
infections, which could be fatal.
Hospital administrations seemed to regard
management of infectious wastes as of little importance.
Several incinerators for hospital wastes have been provided by donors, but most are
very simple and not equipped with pollution control facilities. The incinerator at Shifa
hospital in Gaza caused many complaints because of the smoke and smell it emitted,
and it was ordered to cease operation, but there is some indication that it continued to be
used at night. It was claimed that the incinerator that was installed in a large hospital
complex in Khan Yunis did not meet European standards. At one time the Ministry of
Health announced that no further incinerators should be installed because of the air
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pollution problems associated with them. Some influential people seem to have the idea
that an incinerator solves the problem of hospital waste management, not realising that
segregation and safe management of hazardous wastes is a question of changing the
culture of a hospital, involving staff at all levels, and is more a question of training,
motivation and supervision than of the installation of an incinerator.
TREATMENT AND FINAL DISPOSAL
Sanitary landfill
It is true that open dumps are usually environmental disasters- they cause water and air
pollution and spoil the land they occupy for future use. But a well-designed, wellconstructed and well-operated sanitary landfill can be acceptable from an environmental
viewpoint, and is usually the most economical method of satisfactory disposal. There is
a very large difference between an open dump and a well managed engineered sanitary
landfill, but often decision-makers and the public are not aware of this. It is often the
case that the key to success in sanitary landfilling is the person in charge of operating
the site. Good engineers must be encouraged to develop experience in this field and to
train and supervise their site managers so that the highest possible standards are
maintained.
Considerable progress has been made in waste disposal in the Gaza Strip. Many small
uncontrolled dumpsites have been closed. There is a dumpsite in the northeast corner of
Gaza Governorate, at Beit Hanoun, which is above a good quality aquifer. This site
cause air pollution mostly has enormous populations of mosquitoes and flies and other
insects as well and it is an excellent niche for rodents.
It is claimed that there is a layer of clay just below the site to prevent polluted water
from reaching the aquifer, but this could not be confirmed from site inspection and there
is some reason to suspect the accuracy of this claim. At first the waste at this site was
set on fire, but the Israelis ordered that the burning should be stopped. There are some
indications that burning reduces the flow of effluent from a waste disposal site, since it
drives the moisture out of the waste and reduces the organic content, so the recent
prohibition on burning (though completely justified on the grounds of controlling air
pollution), may have started a flow of toxic effluent towards one of Gaza’s best
aquifers.
Now, there are three sanitary landfills in operation – at Gaza town, dumpsite is located
east of the Town, close to the border with Israel, disposal site at Deir El Balah (for the
central area of Gaza Strip), and disposal site at Rafah located east of the town in the
south. Sanitary landfill is the only sustainable way from a financial point of view.
The delivered wastes to landfill sides are known in quantities, but not qualities. It is
therefore, Very difficult to identify the composition of the waste. The landfill has no
landfill gas collection system (LFG ) and leachate collection and treatment system.
This means that all other disposal techniques will not be advocated in the near future,
while research and pilot projects will be started up to both reduce the solid waste
generation as will as compost and recycle the solid waste.
Although Landfilling will remain in the coming years, the only feasible disposal policy,
after the year two thousand other alternatives are to be investigated to dispose the solid
waste and/or reduce solid waste generation.
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Incineration (Combustion)
Incineration often seems to the best solution - it is modern, apparently clean, is very
costly, both in terms of capital cost and operating cost. The importance of such cost
should not be underrated, but a more important factor opposing the use of incineration
is the nature of the wastes, particularly the content of water and inert material.
Experiences in a number of places in developing countries, for example Beirut, have
shown that incinerators cannot be used for all types of waste.
Large incineration plants have sophisticated equipment to maintain the necessary
combustion temperatures and clean the exhaust gases, and they have proved to be
effective and reliable in many industrialized countries. However, in many other
countries they have been very expensive mistakes. A key factor to consider is the
composition of the waste and the amount of heat that it generates when it burns. If the
waste has a high moisture content (as is the case when the waste has a high proportion
of food waste), then the waste does not burn satisfactorily in normal incinerators, with
the result that large quantities of fuel are used to keep the fire burning or the resulting
air pollution is high because the waste is not burned at a high enough temperature. It
must also be emphasized that incinerators are very expensive to buy and to operate.
Most modern incinerators are equipped to extract energy from the burning waste, but it
may be very much more economical to generate this energy in another way- it must not
be considered as free energy.
Composting
Composting is the best solution for waste that has a high proportion of food waste is
excellent for the environment, This is undoubtedly true from an environmental
perspective. A well-managed composting operation produces virtually no pollution (the
main pollution results from the disposal of material that can’t be composted) and the
resulting product is of benefit to any kind of soil - whether clay or sand.
The problem is often one of economics - that there is not the demand for the product at
the price of production. Farmers must apply compost to their fields in large quantities,
and the cost of transportation is often too much, even if the purchase price is low and
the farmers don’t want to change old methods. Composting should not be seen as waste
disposal but as the manufacture of an agricultural product .The first step is assessing the
viability of a composting operation is to determine the demand for the product, and if
possible, to develop the demand. For this reason, the agricultural sector should play a
leading role in developing the proposal- it should be seen compost production and
marketing, not waste disposal.
Small amounts of heavy metals or other toxic components in the waste can render
compost poisonous to the soil; for this reason most new composting projects in Europe
are using sorted waste, preferably “green waste” coming directly from gardens. Small
quantities of batteries and certain printed papers in mixed domestic waste can have a
significant effect on the quality of the compost made from the waste.
An important way of improving the quality of the product is to improve the purity of the
incoming raw material, and this is best done by keeping the compostable materials such as food waste, vegetation and paper - separate from other waste materials that
contaminate the final product. This is normally done by promoting separate storage and
collection if a compostable waste in the home - and this is a time-consuming task
because it is not easy to change the behaviour of the public as a whole. Alternatively, a
composting operation may only use wastes that come from certain sources, such as
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vegetable markets and gardening operations. In Gaza considerable progress has been
made in modifying public behaviour by campaigns to encourage citizens to use
containers correctly, but it is a much harder task to achieve a separate collection system
which is respected by the majority of the community. It would be good to make a start,
but quick results cannot be expected. In the meantime farmers are importing composts
from Israel, so there would be some economic benefits in developing composting within
Palestine as much as possible.
It is generally recommended that, before any major investment in composting is made ,
a small pilot project should be conducted to determine the quality of the product and the
likely demand and market price. The operation should grow as the demand for the
product increases and as experience of the operation is gained.
Recycling
Recycling is transforming of waste materials into secondary resources for
manufacturing new products and it is sometimes an expensive business. There are some
unemployed people in the West Bank sorting through the waste at some of the disposal
sites where Israeli waste is deposited, but the general economic conditions do not
conform to those found in the countries where the first type of recycling takes place.
The current Palestinian situation does not match with either of the two cases mentioned
above, so this suggests that recycling may not be successful or that a new approach
should be developed.
Recycling of solid waste is most economical where large quantities of recyclable
materials are available within a small area (such as in a large city) because transport of
these materials is expensive and has a big influence on the economy of the operation.
Palestinian cities are not large, and the time taken to travel between them is sometimes
long because of security restrictions, so the cost of transport may prove to be a serious
restraint on recycling. It is also necessary that there be a demand for the separated
materials (in the cleanliness and purity in which they are provided) and that the prices
paid are stable. The recycling sector in Palestine will probably grow quite slowly
because there is no established pattern to follow. In industrialized countries like
Germany and USA is the Recycling system very well developed. This system relies on
a high degree of participation by householders bringing Waste to collection points and
keeping different materials separately and can be considerably more expensive than
simple disposal without resource recovery. This System works best when the general
public is well informed and concerned about environmental issues.
THE ROLE OF UNRWA IN THE FIELD OF SWM
UNRWA operates in terms of a mandate from the United Nations to look after
Palestinian refugees in the Near East and provide within the refugee camps basic
services. Within this mandate are guiding rules and principles that determine the
assistance that can be offered but there are no enforcement powers that can be applied
in any of the areas under their jurisdiction. In simple terms their role is to provide help
and not act as a police force in this instance.
UNRWA is heavily involved in solid waste management, since it is responsible for
collecting waste from the refugee camps. The collected waste is generally disposed of
at sites run by municipalities against monthly payment to the dumpsite operating
organization. UNRWA has also given assistance to municipalities in the Gaza Strip by
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being the channel through which equipment, provided by bilateral donors, has been
provided to the municipalities.
THE ROLE OF THE (EQA) IN SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT
The prime responsibility of EQA is to promote a sustainable environmental
development of the Palestinian society. Its main task is the protection of the
environment, including its water, soil, air, natural resources, nature and biodiversity,
and in preventing public health risks related to environmental issues. The main
responsibilities of EQA are in the field of planning, monitoring, public awareness,
education and training in environmental management, licensing and enforce laws,
regulations polices and practices, if any, for the separate collection, handling and
disposal of hazardous waste (e.g. waste oil, industrial waste, medical wastes).
Solid waste management in Palestine was entirely the responsibility of the
municipalities and village councils, with no national co-ordination or oversight. The
Solid and Hazardous Waste Department (SHWD) of the Environmental Quality
Authority (EQA) is now in a position to provide guidance and technical support, and to
develop links with and between municipalities, village councils, NGOs and other
relevant bodies throughout Palestine. Since municipalities, village councils and solid
waste management councils are the main institutions responsible for managing,
supervising and enforcing of solid waste.
LEGISLATION
Environmental laws often exist but are tackling the issue of SWM in a very general
manner and the relevance is in most of cases no more than strong words on paper.
The laws relevant to solid waste have evolved differently in the Gaza Strip and the West
Bank. In Gaza they were developed on Egyptian lines, and later supplemented by
Israeli regulations. In the West Bank some of the laws can be traced back to Ottoman
or British roots, but the main legislation is the Jordan Public Health Law No. 43 of
1966, which deals mainly with collection services for commercial and domestic wastes.
There have also been some orders imposed by the Israeli Civil Administration.
Currently, the elected Legislative Council is preparing laws, though it is taking some
time for the process to gain momentum. The Palestinian environmental law was
approved on the 29th of December 1999, and shall be enforced soon. Comprehensive
legislation for solid wastes management aiming at environmental protection and
conservation of natural resources should be applied.
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
The control and management of pollution is new subject in almost all developing
countries. Managerial people from industries and the environmentalists should come to
mutual understanding and close cooperation in realizing the importance of the
environmental pollution, and its effects to environment and human beings. They must
realize the real necessity to control and minimize the generation, proper techniques for
treatment and disposal of any waste and finally the special ways of collection, storage,
transfer and transport, processing and final disposal of hazardous waste.
The proper management of MSW in Gaza Strip is generally obstructed by many
technical, administrative and financial shortcomings. It is highly recommended that
major and urgent steps should be taken by concerned authorities in Gaza Strip to
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overcome these shortcomings. The following recommendations would help lead to
integrated MSW management in Gaza Strip:
Development of standards and regulations for adequate and safe transport of all
types of waste materials.
Monitoring of the effectiveness of the waste management collection, transport,
treatment, and disposal systems, and
It is strongly recommended that regular meetings at the governorate level
between representatives from all the towns and villages in each governorate who are
concerned with solid waste management, in order to develop co-ordination and cooperation within each governorate for managers to share experiences and discuss
problems.
Human resources development and capacity building of needed expertise and
skills.
Quantity and quality of hazardous waste must be known very well and the
sources of hazardous waste must be identified.
Hazardous waste and chemical substances must not be disposed with the
municipal waste in landfill site.
Special process must be set for collection, transportation and disposal of
hazardous and chemicals waste.
Appropriate treatment methods must be applied for medical waste and hazardous
waste.
Public awareness program have used a mix of interpersonal and mass media
methods, including home visits, discussions, children’s booklets, painting
competitions, drama, a mobile exhibition with a puppet show and production of
television programmes.
Centralization of disposal and transportation should be considered as soon as
possible and the municipalities should monitor and control their own activities.
There should be national overall monitoring in addition to the local monitoring
activities.
Procurement of a new Land (Land availability, Survey, Value and Size) near to
the Landfill and providing the necessary costs of that land.
Separation policy should be practiced and effectively applied at the source of
waste.
Coordination between cities and villages to putting up integrated policy for solid
waste management under supervision of Environmental Quality Authority.
Establishment of Consultation Committee including people concerned with the
environment from all cities and villages which will regularly meet to recommend plans
for future.
Integrating a comprehensive plan of solid waste management including policy
recommendations and actions for implementation.
Strengthening organizational ability of municipalities in field of planning,
design, operation, maintenance, machine and machinery, and providing the necessary
funds.
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References:
1- Bilitewski,B;Härdtle,G;Marek,K.:Abfallwirtschaft-EineEinführung, Springer,1990.
2-Miller, F.C.; Macauley, B.J: Substrate Usage and Odours in Mushroom Composting
in Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture 29. 1989.
3-Abou-Kambouz,Y.:Untersuchung wirtschaftlicher und technischer Parameter zur
aeroben und anaeroben Bioabfallbehandlung. TU- Hamburg Harburg 1995.
4-EPD (1996) Waste Management and Mismanagement in Palestinian territory; Internal
Report, Environmental Planning Directorate
5-Al-Hmaidi, Mohammad Said; (1995); Solid waste management and disposal system in
the Ramallah District; Report to the Solid Waste Management Steering Committee,
Ramallah District.
6-Jouda, Abdel-Karim, Emergency Action Plan for Solid Wastes in the Gaza Strip,
Ministry of Planning and International Co-operation, October 1995.
7- International Conference on the Management of Hazardous and Non-Hazardous
Waste, Muscat Sultanate of Oman, 16-18 December, 2002
8- Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS, 1997).
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