Due to continuous high population growth and rapid economic development in urban areas, many public, private and informal sector service providers in cities in developing countries are unable to cope with increasing volumes of solid waste, especially in poor and low-income areas.

Regular and safe disposal of solid waste is the basis for hygiene and prevention of diseases and hence the foundation for any development activities oriented at poverty alleviation through improvement of health.

BORDA, along with partner organizations EXNORA (India), Balifokus and BEST (Indonesia) have demonstrated that decentralized solid waste management can be managed successfully in urban areas where residents have an explicit demand for additional solid waste disposal services. This is often the case in urban areas where conventional and informal service providers are unable to cope with increasing amounts of solid waste.

Solid Waste Management- a growing challenge for cities

• 760.000 tons of solid waste produced by urban households in 1999
• In 2025, it is estimated that 52% of the world‘s population live in cities and produce 1.8 million tons of solid waste per day.
• In many Asian cities only 30-80 % of total household waste is collected by private and public collection services.
• Private waste collection services mainly focus on medium and high-income residential areas, whose waste often contains a higher concentration of potentially valuable recyclables.
• Due to non-availability of collection services, residents of low-income areas increasingly bury, burn or dump their waste in remaining open spaces within settlements.
• Final disposal sites are not well managed.
• Widespread unecological disposal of solid waste.