Assessment of

Solid Waste Management

in Liberia
United Nations Environment Programme
Post-Conflict and Disaster Management Branch
in collaboration with the Environmental Protection Agency of Liberia

July 2007
United Nations Environment Programme
P.O. Box 30552
Nairobi
Kenya
Tel: +254 (0)20 762 1234
Fax: +254 (0)20 762 3927
E-mail: [email protected]
Web: http://www.unep.org
Table of Contents

1 Background ...................................................................................................................4
2 Mission Objectives........................................................................................................4
3 Study Approach.............................................................................................................4
4 Findings .........................................................................................................................5
4.1 Legal and Institutional Setting ...............................................................................5
4.2 Institutional Capacity and Infrastructure ...............................................................6
4.3 Role of the International Community.....................................................................9
4.4 Potential Role of the Private Sector......................................................................10
4.5 Raising Public Awareness and Community Involvement .....................................11
5 Recommendations......................................................................................................13

Endnotes.......................................................................................................................14
1 Background z The management of hazardous healthcare
waste (HHCW); and
UNEP has been active in Liberia since 2003, initially z The identification of the necessary components
undertaking a post conflict assessment and later, for long-term, sustainable improvements within
in 2005, establishing a field office for providing the waste management sector.
capacity building assistance. During one of the
z Increase awareness by a one-day workshop was
recently concluded capacity building workshops,
conducted for some forty (40) representatives of
it became evident that management of solid
relevant public and private sector stakeholders
waste remains a key issue to be addressed in the
within the waste management field.
country. With increasing population, changing
consumption patterns and economic growth, it is
likely that solid waste generation is going to increase 3 Study Approach
significantly. Already, Liberia’s waste management
sector faces tremendous difficulties, due to various The work was split into three segments:
factors, including: unclear and over-lapping legal
mandates and responsibilities; inadequate institutional A) Pre-mission Data Gathering: This included
framework; poor enforcement mechanisms; extremely collection of all available information on issues
weak technical and human capacity within the associated with waste management in Liberia as
government sector; low level of public awareness on well as similar countries around the world.
health-waste management linkages; and a complete
absence of cost recovery mechanisms. B) During the Mission: Throughout the ten day
mission and the one day workshop, which was
At the request of the Environmental Protection hosted by the EPA, stakeholders from the following
Agency of Liberia (EPA), UNEP conducted a technical organizations were met:
mission to study both the technical and institutional
issues associated with solid waste management z Government Departments: Ministry of Transport;
in Liberia. The mission was hosted by the EPA and Ministry of Internal Affairs; Ministry of Lands,
undertaken between 17 – 27 June 2007. This report Mines & Energy; Ministry of Public Works; Ministry
summarizes its findings. of Health and Social Welfare; Ministry of Labour;
Grand Bassa County Superintendent.

2 Mission Objectives z Municipal administrations: Monrovia City

Corporation; Paynesville City Corporation;
The primary task of this exercise was to undertake, in Buchanan City Corporation; Kakata City
consultation with the EPA, a review of the Solid Waste Corporation.
Management Sector of Liberia, in particular:
z International Community: The European
z The roles, responsibilities and legal mandates of Commission, The World Bank; UNICEF; UN-HABITAT;
the key public sector actors throughout Liberia; UNMIL; UNOPS; UNDP; UN Country Team.

z The public institutional framework for waste z Civil Society: Genisis Ltd; Global Alliance
management; Ltd; Sanitors & Services Ltd; Liberia Marketing
z Existing operational practices and facilities; Association (LMA); JKF Hospital; Liberia
Government Hospital in Buchanan; DUCOR
z Participation of local NGOs and CBOs within
Ltd; International Rescue (IRC); Jurubbal (NGO,
the waste management sector;
Kakata); MSF; Power TV; Clar TV; Real TV.
z Existing cost recovery mechanisms, if any;
In addition, field visits were made to a number of
z Public education initiatives and technologies;
locations with waste management problems, waste
z The capacity of the private sector to deliver management sites, new community and private
waste management services; sector initiatives.

4 Assessment of Solid Waste

C) Post -Mission: The findings from the mission Protection and Management Law of the Republic
were consolidated and discussed with technical of Liberia contains specific sections (37, 38 and
experts to arrive at useful and appropriate 39) that specify the role of the EPA regarding
conclusions and recommendations waste management in Liberia as the coordinator
and monitoring body for setting policies and
guidelines3. Section 62 on the “Prohibition of Solid
4 Findings Waste Pollution” also penalizes “every person who
discharges, discards, dumps or leaves any litter
4.1 Legal and Institutional Setting on any land, coastal zone, surface water (…)
except in a container or at a place which has
been specifically indicated, provided or set apart
Constitutional Provisions: Liberia’s environmental
for such purpose”. However, the Act Adopting
laws have a constitutional basis as per article 71 of
the National Environmental Policy of the Republic
the Constitution (1986), which advocates for the
of Liberia is the most extensive on the topic by
maximum feasible participation of all Liberians in
reserving a whole sub-chapter (5.7) to waste
the management of their natural resources, and
as per article 20 (a)2 promulgating the right to management and sanitation. Numerous strategic
life which, by extension, provides for a right to a policy measures are recommended, including:
clean and healthy environment. This constitutional
z Identify, designate and establish landfill sites
reference grants to the environment a particularly
for all urban areas;
high status among the values defended by the
Liberian people. Further, it binds the state organs
z Set up a joint monitoring and coordinating unit
– in particular the legislative and executive - to between agencies and institutions responsible
adopt an active environmental policy and to for waste management programmes and
formulate national development plans that are involve the local communities (which indirectly
environmentally sustainable. acknowledges the existing lack of clarity of the
division of responsibilities);
However, despite the above, Liberia’s development
strategy is presently oriented primarily towards z Design and instruct a waste sensitization
stimulating and accelerating economic growth. programme at various levels, especially
This will inevitably result in an expansion of among women and the youth; and
urban, agricultural and industrial activities. The
demands placed on the environment to provide z Empower local communities to dispose of their
resources for development and to absorb waste waste.
will consequently grow, presenting challenges to
both the authorities and communities. So, clearly the policy document does contain the
necessary components to cater for effective solid
Legal Framework: The three main legal dispositions waste management, although to date they have
that grant authority in the field of environment, not been effectively implemented.
including the waste management sector, are the
three acts creating the Environmental Protection Institutional Arrangements: The following
Agency (EPA), and adopting the framework section discusses the legal mandates of the key
Environmental Protection and Management Law and public institutions involved in waste management
Policy of the Republic of Liberia (all approved on 26 in Liberia, and identifies the main areas of
November 2002 and published on 30 April 2003). overlapping roles and responsibilities.

These three authoritative documents all mention 1. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
the waste management sector, taken from is primarily in charge of setting up (develop
different angles. In the Act creating the EPA waste and publish) national guidelines for solid
management is approached as a cross-cutting waste management in Liberia, environmental
issue as this law deals more with institutional quality standards (and related penalties and
settings than with substantive sectoral activity. fines), and ensuring compliance for pollution
Whereas the Act Adopting the Environment control. It should also provide guidelines for

Management in Liberia 5
 the preparation of environmental impact (MCC), MCC Ordinances’ Chapters 1 and 7
assessments (EIAs), audits/inspections and (1975), designate various departments of MCC as
environmental licenses/permits for engineered being in charge of municipal waste disposal sites,
landfill sites (as articulated in section 64 of the prohibition of the littering, and requiring residents
Act Adopting the National Environmental Policy to clean in front, and around, their properties
of the Republic of Liberia). The Act creating the up to the sidewalk. Furthermore, Chapter 7 of
EPA also mentions, in section 34, the creation of MCC’s Ordinances stipulates that all residents
an Environmental Administrative Court, which, in Monrovia shall pay various monthly fees for
as of today, is still not established. solid waste collection and disposal. However,
as the charges for the planning, development,
2. The Ministry of Health and Social Welfare operation and maintenance of the solid waste
(MHSW) has, through its Division of
management systems and equipments are
Environmental and Occupational Health, the
largely divided among various MCC departments,
mandate to assess “the environmental health
this, with other contributing factors discussed later,
of the population”. This grants this Division
eventually results in the total paralysis of the waste
the power to conduct sanitary inspections
management in Monrovia.
evaluate compliance with the Public Health
Law. Nonetheless, as of today, no Hazardous An overview of the above mentioned legal mandates
Health Care Waste (HHCW) management demonstrates clearly the overlap and imprecise
guidelines or standards have been established division of responsibilities between the various public
by the Ministry. authorities, as on the one hand between the EPA,
3. The Ministry of Lands, Mines and Energy the MHSW and the municipalities on the monitoring
(MLME) hosts the Liberian Hydrological role, and on the other hand the MLME and the MPW
Service (LHS) whose responsibility is to evaluate on their respective responsibilities for preparing
urban sanitation projects, such as to provide engineered landfill sites.
guidance for the geotechnical investigation
of engineered landfill sites. 4.2 Institutional Capacity and
Infrastructure
4. The Ministry of Public Works (MPW) is in
principle responsible for the installation of In terms of figures, the World Bank Technical Paper
the entire infrastructure required for waste No 426, Solid Waste Landfalls in Middle and Low
management delivery services, including Income Countries, gives a waste generation rate
waste collection and transfer stations, and the of 0.5kg/day/cap, plus a further 0.1kg/day/cap for
construction of engineered landfill sites. commercial waste, which gives an overall figure
of 0.7kg/day/cap4. Thus for Monrovia, with an
5. The Municipalities have been granted, by
estimated population of 1.3 million, the average
the Public Health Law of 1975 (still valid), the
generation rate is of some 780/tones/day.
responsibility of ensuring clean and sanitary
environmental conditions on the territory under their
Waste composition in Monrovia
respective jurisdictions. They are thus responsible
Component % by weight
for sanitation activities including the cleaning,
Paper 10.0
collection and disposal of generated solid Glass, Ceramics 1.2
waste. In theory, they should receive their annual Metals 2.0
operating budget from the Government, through Plastics 13.0
the Ministry of Internal Affairs, but discussions Leather, Rubber 0.2
Wood, Bones, Straw 4.6
with various municipal officials in Grand Bassa,
Textiles 6.0
Montserrado or Margibi Counties confirmed
Vegetable /Putrescible 43.0
that these financial transfers are currently non- Miscellaneous Items 20.0
existent, apparently partly due to the early stage Total 100
of the decentralization reform process. Internal Density 250 kg/m3
regulations of the Monrovia City Corporation Waste Management Plan for Monrovia, UNICEF-DFID, August 2004

6 Assessment of Solid Waste

 Central Government
Source of funding

EPA MLME MPW Ministry of MHSW

Regulatory, Site Identification Facility Design, Internal Affairs In charge of
Monitoring and Acquisition Construction and Environmental
and Enforcing Supervision Health + HHCW
Responsibility

Municipalities
Facility Operation,
Maintenance and
Management

Private Sector
Construction,
Management of
Operation and
Maintenance

Throughout the mission, the weak nature of

institutional capacities and infrastructure within
the government sector for waste management
became very apparent. This inherent weakness is
due, to a large extent, to shortages in both human
and financial resources to operate a viable system.
The human resources, the technical expertise of the
various ministries, including the EPA, are collectively
very low, or on occasions non existent. In all of the
government entities visited, there is a serious need
for trained and experienced personnel. Failure to
address this need will undermine any future waste
management initiatives.

For instance, resources of the EPA, which in

many respects is the key organization for waste
management within Liberia, are particularly low.
For example, its budget is only 115 000 USD for
2007, and only one staff member dedicated to
waste management issues, on a part-time basis.
Clearly, with these resources, EPA is completely
unable to execute its legal mandate and presently The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) premises in Monrovia
there appears to be little interest to address this
situation.
USD/month from the Liberia Marketing Association
Further, both the municipalities of Buchanan or (LMA) to provide the marketers with a daily waste
Kakata report that they receive between 10 and 12 collection service. Clearly, this is unrealistic.

Management in Liberia 7
 deviant behaviors) and of any enforcement forum
(court or judge) makes the “polluter pays principle”
inapplicable within Liberia today.

As far as infrastructure for waste management

is concerned, there is a complete absence of
engineered landfill sites throughout the country.
Consequently, waste disposal activities are focused
on a small number of dump-sites, the majority of which
are inappropriately located within wetlands and
swamps, such as the Fiamah Site that services much
of Monrovia, The Boulevard in Congo Town, and the
dump-site located within the town of Kakata.

The anticipated “temporary” use of the Fiamah

UN Drive street of Monrovia. Limited waste collection services are dump site in Monrovia for the next 18 months will
provided by MCC via the manual loading of two tipper-trucks, which most likely not be sufficient to cope with the amount
is time consuming and offers limited pay-loads of waste disposed off over that period. Of greater
concern is the fact that no engineering designs, EIA
In terms of equipment, Monrovia City Corporation or mitigation plan have yet been undertaken for the
(MCC), for example, has only 2 functioning tipper- proposed new disposal site at Mount Barclay. This
trucks for waste collection throughout the city of despite the fact that these essential development
over 1.3 million people, while a further six vehicles steps, in conjunction with site construction works,
have been off the road, on average for over one can be anticipated to take between two to three
year, with minor problems. The real problem is years. Thus, there is a real risk that, notwithstanding
MCC’s lack of funds which results in an inability to its inappropriate location and limited ‘foot-print’,
purchase the required spare parts. the Fiamah Site may need to be operated for a
considerable period of time yet.
Nevertheless, it is reported that MCC does
subcontract, with World Bank’s funding, two private
contractors to operate with 7 more vehicles. It is
estimated, however, that this combined capacity
results in only 20% of the solid waste generated in
Monrovia being collected and disposed off at The
Fiamah Site (4 kilometers from the city centre). The
remainder of the waste is dumped by the road-side,
within vacant lots, drains, or is randomly burnt.

The decentralization process, initiated by the

Government of Liberia, is intended to give to
municipalities the authority for raising, and directly
accessing, waste management-user fee revenues.
Decentralization is generally seen as the most relevant
approach for dealing with waste management,
however, if the decentralization process is not
properly planned and implemented there is a risk
that it will simply lead to additional bureaucracy.

Obviously the absence of any law enforcement

mechanism results in a crucial lack of authority
for the various public entities to exercise their
Child scavenging solid waste at Fiamah dump site in Monrovia.
respective mandates. Both the absence of any Young children searching for recyclable material at the Fiamah
penalizing legislation (as gradual fines’ rates for Site are at serious risk from the hazardous healthcare waste

8 Assessment of Solid Waste

4.3 Role of the International
Community

Various actors within the “international community”

have initiated programmes, directly or indirectly,
related to waste management in Liberia. The first
significant contribution after the conflict dates
back to 2003-2004 when UNICEF, with a DFID
contribution, undertook a comprehensive review
of the waste management sector and produced
an improvement strategy and recommendations
for a “Waste Management Plan for Monrovia”.

This study also covered a technical review of ten

possible sites for selecting a new landfill facility
site for Monrovia, and concluded by supporting
the upgrading of Fiamah disposal site, seen as
a temporary solution, until the engineering and
construction of a new proper landfill site at of Mont
Barclay be finalized. However, it is worth mentioning
at this stage that the proposed Mont Barclay site
has two significant drawbacks: its relative distance
from the town (25 km), coupled with extreme traffic WB funded secondary-waste collection facilities at Barclay Training
congestion, and potentially more worrying, the Centre beach, where waste generation is exceeding capacity
swampy nature of the site’s location.

The apparent absence of viable donors for the

In the absence of suitable alternatives being
construction of the proposed engineered landfill
identified, the existing Fiamah Site and Mont
site places the onus on the responsible government
Barclay remain the only two waste disposal options
agencies to redouble their efforts and actively
for Monrovia. Furthermore, no available funding has,
as yet, been identified for the engineering design engage the international donor community.
work, or construction for the proposed Mont Barclay
Other significant activities conducted in the waste
Site. The World Bank (WB), which has a budget line
management sector in Liberia are presently being
for waste management related projects, could be
a potential contributor, but is unable to commit implemented by UNDP and ILO, some being with
to the construction of the landfill until such time as World Bank (WB) funding. The USD 1 million UNDP-
an EIA and mitigation plan are completed by the WB ongoing project (until October’07) aims to
EPA or MCC. Even then, the WB is unceratain that remove much of the accumulated waste within
it can find the necessary funding as it states that its Monrovia through the installation of 120 skip-bins
budget for Liberia already over-stretched, and will and the provision of eight skip-trucks to the MCC.
remain so for the foreseeable future. Meanwhile, ILO, in partnership with the Ministry
of Labour and MCC, is currently implementing a
Another potentially major donor, the European two-component project that comprises:
Union (EU) Delegation in Liberia, reports that it has
no more funding available for the period 2007, z The Liberian Emergency Employment
but might have some possibilities in its 2008-2013 Programme (LEEP; ILO project component I)
package of work, although its primary focus will which is an 18-month programme, aimed at
remain the water-treatment sector. maximizing local employment for the short-
term clean-up of markets within Monrovia,
JICA, the Japanese aid agency, have been within which substantial volumes of waste had
approached, informally, by UNMIL, but do not appear accumulated over the years. This activity is
to be interested in funding this proposed project. nearing completion.

Management in Liberia 9
 The Liberian Employment Action Plan (LEAP;
z it is noted that the ILO project does include a
ILO project component II) that will focus on capacity-building component for private
empowering community based organizations sector operators and communities5.
(CBOs) in order to enhance the sustainability
of the previous clean-up activities. This project Presently, as far as the international community’s
will run for approximately a further 2.5 years. efforts are concerned, sanitation is not an area
Activities will include moving waste from the of focus in the 2007 joint programming exercise
house-holds, possibly in wheelbarrows, to the of the Liberia UN Country Team (see annex 10).
collection points, and discouraging the dumping Furthermore, UNEP should actively engage in joint
of waste into drainage channels and rivers. programmes and seize the opportunity to raise the
profile and catalyse intervention within the waste
These two on-going projects, WB-UNDP and ILO, are management sector.
currently the two main initiatives supported by the
international community in the waste management 4.4 The Potential Role of the Private
sector. However, a few concerns can be identified Sector
with these ongoing international approaches:
During meetings between the UNEP team and
z First of all, they usually target exclusively the representatives of all of the key government
capital (except for a quick-impact project ministries, the future role of the private sector within
of UNMIL in Buchanan) and largely ignore Liberia for the delivery of waste management
communities outside of the capital. Further, out services was endorsed and actively supported.
of necessity, they select certain communities This is in large part due to the chronic failure of the
within Monrovia (as 120 skip-bins and 8 trucks government sector throughout Liberia to provide
will only be able to cater for about 30% of reliable waste management services to the
the waste generated on a daily basis within communities, particularly outside of Monrovia.
Monrovia). Experience elsewhere in West
Africa suggests that this may result in tension Indeed, in many countries of the world, including
within communities who are beneficiaries of Africa, the privatization of waste management
this project and those not catered for. services is often seen as the only viable option,
and potentially offers higher quality of service
z Secondly, these projects can potentially at competitive prices, allowing the government
disturb the emerging markets within the waste sector to focus on the roles of monitoring and
management sector, and as a consequence enforcement of services. On this matter, the
damage the fledgling private sector African Development Bank’s guidelines for waste
involvement. For example, at UNEP’s recent management state that private enterprises
workshop, a number of newly established may play a role in vastly improving solid waste
private contractors complained that they are management services in Africa 6. However, it
loosing clients who will now benefit from the should be noted that compared to developed-
‘free’ WB funded waste collection services country models, the African models require greater
within their neighbourhoods. involvement of the communities in the process.
Community Based Organizations (CBOs) may
 Thirdly, the projects aim for ‘quick-employment’
z play a role in providing solid waste management
and, as a consequence, are not able to address services from pre-collection to recycling and
the components of sustainability within the waste composting.
management sector, such as cost-recovery, public
education, and enforcement mechanisms. It is encouraging to note that in spite of the difficult
conditions existing in Monrovia for the establishment
z Fourthly, a crucial element that is missing into of a private waste management sector, there are
these programmes is a capacity-building some very promising developments. It is noteworthy
component, whose beneficiaries among that a small, but significant, number of private
others should be the EPA and MCC in their contractors have commenced operations within
monitoring and coordinating role. Nonetheless, Monrovia. Further, their participation in UNEP’s

10 Assessment of Solid Waste

waste management workshop demonstrated expense of this service since they are theoretically in
their pragmatic approach to the potential waste charge of waste management in the markets, and
management market. do raise taxes that are supposed to cover expenses
for these services. Some calculations were carried
Among these investors and private contractors out with various stakeholders, and have shown that
can be listed: N.C Sanitors &Services Inc, Libra LMA’s revenues would be largely able to afford a
Sanitation Inc., Genesis Inc, Global Alliances Inc. proper solid waste management service, at least
Also, a new contractor, DUCOR Waste is keen to for the market places, entailing appropriate waste
get involved in the sector, focusing upon market
collection and disposal services, rather than what
waste, although at this preliminary stage, their
generally prevails now, involving waste being
legal status is not clear – are they an NGO of a
transported in wheelbarrows and dumped within
private contractor.
the local community.

Apart from those companies who have been

It is apparent, at this preliminary stage, that the
contracted under the WB and ILO funded projects
Liberia Marketing Association (LMA) is the only
in Monrovia, others are looking for innovative and
established stakeholder that could have sufficient
profitable ways to provide waste management
revenue to finance a proper waste management
services throughout Liberia. Particularly outside the
system. Not surprisingly, the LMA has difficult
capital, interesting enterprises are ongoing that
relationships with most of the municipalities that
do provide collection services to business entities,
charge it of collecting taxes from the market traders
such as hotels, restaurants, large retailers and a
higher income house-holds. that should go to the municipalities themselves.
Conversely, representatives of LMA claim that in the
It is apparent that in all these cases the beneficiaries past municipalities have been given fees for the
of these waste collection services are ready to pay provision of waste collection services that they have
for the services and are happy with the performance failed to deliver. Clearly, this is an extremely complex
of the private-contractors, and the associated local issue, and has a large political dimension to
services. This positive outlook was strongly endorsed it. There is a need for a legal clarification of each
by numerous participants at UNEPS’s waste entities mandate, role and responsibility regarding
management workshop in Monrovia. municipal responsibilities and the collection of local
fees and taxes.
The implementation of cost-recovery measures by
municipalities through user-fees and local taxes, in
4.5 Raising Public Awareness and
parallel with the establishment of subcontracting
Community Involvement
partnerships with the private sector could be a
promising solution for Liberia. However, this would
One of the key factors necessary to ensure the
require empowering the municipalities and the
success of the sustainable waste management
EPA in their monitoring and enforcement role,
initiatives, as advocated by this paper, is the
through appropriate training of staff and provision
of appropriate resources. involvement of the civil society. This would mean
enhancing the communities’ contribution to the
To explore further the option of privatization of waste operational processes; strengthen educational
management services feasibility studies would programmes on waste-heath related issues at
need to be undertaken, including the review of school, and examining the proper role of women
possible cost-recovery mechanisms. Preliminary within the waste management sector. Such a
investigations by the UNEP team indicate that waste large-scale public awareness campaign could
generators would generally be prepared to pay an go through multiple channels, including:
appropriate fee for waste collection services.
z To use the media and talk-show programmes
On many occasions during the course of these to diffuse information on better waste
discussions, the Liberia Marketing Association (LMA) management practices (as we experimented
was mentioned as a possible major contributor to the in four occasions during our mission);

Management in Liberia 11
 from work, and decreased productivity due to
illness,…) are generally higher than the cost of a
waste management service that would remove the
conditions prejudicial to public health, such as
the presence, accumulation and decomposition
of garbage in close proximity to low-income
housing, in which children often play and relieve
themselves, and public markets.

This argument regarding the comparison of costs

between two options being the existence, or
the absence, of waste management services is
particularly powerful and should be successfully
employed in the course of future waste management
public awareness campaigns.
Children “coming to toilets” on the site of Jallah’s Town waste disposal point
To conclude, a sustainable approach to waste
management within Liberia is one that must
z To install information boards on roads (as integrate sanitary as well as social objectives,
UNICEF and other UN agencies have done; ensure a profitable, reliable service and raise
public awareness on health related concerns.
z To conduct an education campaign on waste Further, there is a need to bring together the
management and related health issues in public, private and community based actors,
school (best sanitary practices, safe handling and to give them well defined responsibilities in
of human and household domestic waste), the various fields from preliminary collection to
similarly for women-CBOs which could be recycling. One suggested way of strengthening
trained by Ministry of Heath officials; institutional capacity for waste management in
Liberia would be first of all to raise the “profile” and
z To organize UN-sponsored public events such capacity of the public authorities in charge of this
as a “waste management day” with street- sector, in particular the Environmental Protection
theatre shows, informative meetings and forum Agency. Finally, to give such an initiative a realistic
for discussions, and distribution of flyers; chance of success, environment in general, and
waste management specifically, needs to be
z To set up a course on waste management at embraced within the highest level of the political
the Faculty for Environmental Sciences of the and legislative community within Liberia.
University of Liberia;

z To provide extra professional technical training

to the staff organizing and operating waste
management systems from public authorities
(EPA, Ministry of Health, MCC…).

Evidently, to be successful, such public awareness

and capacity building exercises would require
an “enabling” policy and administrative
environment.

One particularly powerful argument that should

be promoted throughout the public awareness
programme is the hidden cost of poor waste
management services – such as the cost related
to ill-health and sickness (cost of visiting doctors,
costs of medicines, loss of income due to absence UNEP expert and Government officials at the at the Boulevard site

12 Assessment of Solid Waste

5 Recommendations and highlighting the consequences upon
public health and environmental quality of
The following are the key recommendations poor waste management and sanitation.
resulting from the assessment conducted:
5. In the shorter term, the urgency of the issue of
1. A significant degree of interest and positive HHCW needs to be addressed. The EPA should,
momentum have been generated during this therefore, facilitate a number of actions:
short mission, and this, along with the good
will and trust of the numerous stakeholders – Encourage the ongoing dialogue between
and participants, needs to be built upon by hospitals and clinics about the appropriate
UNEP and partner organizations, otherwise the management and treatment of HHCW;
opportunity for meaningful intervention will
have been lost. – Promote the ‘polluter pays’ principle
through the provision of a HHCW disposal
2. At the final workshop it was agreed that EPA service within hospitals which possess
should act as the focal point for all waste functioning incinerators for other institutions
management issues within Liberia, and should which lack suitable facilities, for the
commence with the formation of a National payment of a service fee.
Solid Waste Task Force (NSWMTF), which should
embrace representatives of all key stakeholders, – Inspect hospital facilities to determine
both from the public and private sector. the status of HHCW disposal facilities and
management systems.
3. A key task for the NSWMTF should be the
development, over a twelve months timeframe, – Promote public awareness about the
of a National Solid Waste Management Policy significant dangers associated with the mis
and Strategy, setting up adequate regulations management of HHCW.
and standards.
6. In recognition of EPA limited institutional
4. In support of the above task, EPA should capacity and operational budget, UNEP
engage other key stakeholders, such as the should, in conjunction with its colleagues within
Ministry of Health, and through the sharing UNDP, and other international donors, continue
of resources and budgets, commence a to support the EPA logistically, operationally
public education programme promoting and with the development of its institutional
appropriate waste management practices, capacity.

Management in Liberia 13
Endnotes
1. Article 7 of the Liberia Constitution (6 January 1986): “The Republic shall, consistent with the principles
of individual freedom and social justice enshrined in this Constitution, manage the national
economy and the natural resources of Liberia in such manner as shall ensure the maximum feasible
participation of Liberian citizens under conditions of equality as to advance the general welfare of
the Liberian people and the economic development of Liberia.”

2. Article 20 of the Liberia Constitution (6 January 1986): “a. No person shall be deprived of life…”

3. Section 38 2) “The Agency shall, in consultation with the relevant Line Ministry, issue guidelines for
the handling, storage, transportation, segregation, disposal and treatment of hazardous waste.”
Section 39 1) “The Agency (…) shall develop and publish national guidelines for solid waste
management”.

4. These figures have been confirmed by the ILO and UNICEF-DFID studies.

5. See in annex the programme of an ILO-MCC workshop called “Start your Waste Collection Business”
and the project document of component 2 of the ILO project focusing on “Employment Creation
Through the Involvement of CBOs/micro enterprises in a PPP arrangement for solid waste management
in Monrovia”.

6. Study on Solid Waste Management Options for Africa, The African Development Bank-PSDU, July 2002.

14 Assessment of Solid Waste

Further information

Further technical information may be obtained from the UNEP Post-Conflict Assessment Unit website at:
http://postconflict.unep.ch/