EFFECTS OF COVID-19 PANDEMIC ON SOLID WASTE COMPOSITION AND MUNICIPAL CAPACITY IN OL-KALOU TOWN, KENYA

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic outbreak has presented a threat to the global health sector, with many governments, healthcare, and waste management sectors being caught unprepared and unaware. With the outbreak of the infectious COVID -19 disease, many resources have been allocated to hospitals to help prevent the disease spread, leaving other crucial sectors such a waste management department with fewer resources to finance their waste management activities. The changes in quantity and composition of the wastes reaching the municipal waste stream have far-reaching effects on the waste collectors' health and the waste scavengers due to contamination by the COVID-19 virus. The households' failure to separate contaminated wastes and store the waste in safe containers for more than 72 hours can also facilitate disease spread. Despite the challenges posed by the pandemic, the waste management sector will have to experience some opportunities in the aftermath of the disease. Therefore, the study aimed to assess the COVID-19 pandemic's effects on waste composition and municipal capacity Ol-Kalou municipal council. Purposive sampling was used to select a sample of three officials in the waste management department in the Ol-Kalou municipal council. Primary data was collected through carrying out a waste composition analysis to determine the proportion of covid-19 related wastes in three OlKalou town market curbsides, while data on municipal capacity was collected through an interview to waste management officials. The study's findings indicated that the proportion of covid-19 related wastes comprises 1.05%, a high number, plastics 19.24%, metals 11.86%, glass 5.84%, papers 4.12%, food wastes 46.05%, 3.09% leather, 1.19% Rubber and others 7.56%. Similarly, the results of the interview indicated that the municipal council could not sustainably handle the waste amid the pandemic due to decreased budget allocations, a limited number of workers, lack of worker training to manage contaminated wastes, and limited vehicles to transport cover large areas per day. The study recommended that waste management sectors require additional budget allocations to finance their activities, develop disaster waste management plans, and create public awareness of the importance of waste separation.