Haiti: Problem of solid waste management in the city of Port-au-Prince

On the eve of Christmas, the detritus are visually striking in most streets of Port-au-Prince. Mountains of waste of all kinds were abandoned in the streets by the authorities concerned ....

The average waste generated in Port-au-Prince is estimated at six thousand (6,000) m3 per day of which only 30% are collected and the rest is poured into the streets and ravines and clogs drains. The current rate of landfill waste is 200-300 tonnes per day (SMCRS, May 2004) and part of the waste collected is incinerated by households without thinking about the impact on their quality of life. The mass of accumulated waste in the city is growing faster than the establishment of facilities capable of treating and eliminating them.

The pollution caused by solid waste in Port-au-Prince is constantly increasing. It poses many challenges to those responsible to remove these nuisances. Many attempts have been made by the State and other agencies, but the problem is far from resolved.

The eradication of solid waste in the city is a goal if we want to protect the environment and create new jobs from recycling.

The city of Port-au-Prince to be confused with an area unsafe with the exception of some residential neighborhoods. The accumulation of many types of waste in the streets becomes a concern when the authorities of the mayor and SMCRS not know what to do. The ecological waste management is a collective duty of actors in search of a healthy environment.
The waste has become one of the great challenges of the city of Port-au-Prince. They threaten the urban environment, water resources and population health. Their accumulation in the streets leading to uncontrolled landfills or uncontrolled. A poorly managed landfill has potential risks to human health because of the inevitable environmental degradation due to the release of biogas and other toxic substances. The sound management of solid waste reduction at their source to their ecological traits and encourage their reuse.

The method of solid waste carried by the actors involved far reflects their effective management in Port-au-Prince. The lack of adequate facilities paralyze public services and collective. The weakness of municipalities lies in the inability to provide and effectively distribute a minimum of urban service quality to all citizens. The majority of functions related to urban waste management is not organized coherently and has too many players at once. Waste management in the city faces a problem of strategic plan in the various activities (discharge - Collection - recover - reuse) due to a lack of synchronization between the different actors.

The solid waste collection is usually performed on the anticipated demand of users. This gene greatly the movement of vehicles in Port-au-Prince. Some arteries because of heavy traffic which prevails are collected at night or in hours "hollow". The collection containers are not standardized and the surplus dumped on the floor increases the volume of waste to be cleaned by the scavengers of the City Council.

Taking into account the limited capacity of collection materials, the different collection systems claimed by different types of urban fabric, templates collection vehicles and various types of roads should be re specific routes collection circuit and management areas and much more fine collection that should be adapted to each type of waste.

The establishment of a strategic reorganization plan taking into account the ecological limits reduces the volume of rubbish in the city. The development of this program facilitates the recovery and recycling of garbage, giving rise to strategic groups that convey information relating to proper waste management. Redefining the role of actors who would avoid involving institutional confusion.