Estimated average waste generated per capita per day in an OECD country is around 2.2 kg.
In comparison, the average is about 0.65 kg per person per day in Africa.
Unfortunately, tourists from OECD countries either holidaying or on business trips to,
for example Africa, bring with them demands and
the lifestyle that replicate the waste generation from their native country.
Not only the volume of waste follows the tourist but also its composition.
In a low income country,
typical solid waste is made up of
60 to 70 percent organic material and the rest, non-organic.
In the case of Zanzibar,
organic composition has traditionally been as high as 80 percent.
However, the composition of solid waste typical for
OECD countries will be only 25 to 30 percent organic waste,
with the rest being paper,
plastic, glass, metal, and et cetera.
This high volume of non-organic waste will follow
the tourist and show up in the waste statistics of tourist destinations,
challenging the traditional organic based waste handling system there.
This is especially true for rural tourist destinations,
including fishing and agricultural communities,
where the waste generation by the tourist with
a more urban and high income lifestyle does not match the infrastructure,
business models, and policies governing the local solid waste management practices.
The difference in volume of solid waste generated by different groups of
tourists was highlighted in a study from a rural tourist destination in Kerala in India.
The study documented the daily per capita waste
generated by foreign tourists to be 5.5 Kg,
while the daily average of a domestic Indian tourist was 3.5Kg.
This stands in contrast to the around 0.5 Kg
of solid waste generated by local residents in the same area.
Poorly managed waste impact human health as well as the local and global environment.
A study from Pahalgam,
a small tourist destination in India,
found the tourist sector to be the major generator of solid waste.
The study found a strong correlation between
poor waste management and degrading surface water quality,
with an increase in the occurrence of water related diseases at the peak tourist season.
Another study from tourist destinations in Langkawi Islands in Malaysia,
also found that inadequate management of
solid waste increase the spread of mosquito born diseases,
as well as runoff from dumpsites resulting in organic and inorganic materials
entering the waterways with
unknown effects on the health of the population and ecosystem.
Historically, public health concerns have been
the basis for establishing Solid Waste Management Systems.
Solid waste that is not properly collected and disposed of can be a habitat for insects.
Such insects may act as vectors of disease and will
increase the number of rats and other scavenging animals in a community.
Environmental health risk also include contamination of groundwater and
surface water by leakage from an unregulated dumpsites,
causing water related diseases.
The particles from incomplete burning of waste will reduce
the air quality and impact upon the health of the local population.
Surveys conducted by the UN Habitat
shows that in areas where waste is not collected frequently,
the incidence of diarrhea are twice
as high and acute respiratory infections six
times as high compared to areas where collection is frequent.
The United Nations Environmental Program, UNEP,
estimates that around 14 percent of
all global solid waste is produced each year solely by the tourist industry.
To make matters more difficult,
much of the waste is generated in a context where
the capacity to manage waste is insufficient.
A strategy of building a stronger integrated Solid Waste Management System at
tourist destinations would follow
the generally accepted hierarchy of waste management priorities as shown here.
The most preferred option is for hotels,
tour operators, and destinations to reduce the quantity of waste being generated.
The second priority is to recycle or recover material from
waste to be reused in the manufacturing of new products.
For the organic waste,
some hotels, including on Zanzibar,
have succeeded in establishing a compositing system and
small biogas facilities to generate energy
or to use organic waste as an input for horticultural processes.
As a last option,
solid waste will have to enter controlled dumpsites,
or landfills, or be incinerated under control conditions.
Obviously, an integrated and comprehensive Solid Waste Management System
will be costly to establish.
However, World Bank review found that the downstream costs were much
higher than the cost of managing waste in a proper way to begin with.
In addition, such a system will create jobs in the local waste management sector,
protect the future of the tourist industry,
and protect the environment and the health of the communities.