Sustainability of private sector in municipal solid waste collection: is it possible?

This paper discusses the sustainability of private sector participation in urban service delivery in developing countries. The solid waste collection service in Dar es Salaam – Tanzania is used as a case study. Cities in Africa are rapidly urbanising as a results municipalities have not been able to cope with the rapid increase of solid waste coupled with the rapid population increase. This resulted in a relatively large quantity of solid waste remaining poorly managed and uncollected, which left with a need for other stakeholders to participate in service provision. The private sector in DSM took the opportunity, in the early 1990s, to fill the gap left by the public sector. The paper deals with the question of operational sustainability and explores whether such an approach is possible or not. The purpose of the paper is to share experience with urban developing countries with similar characteristics to DSM-Tanzania.