/

Addis Ababa University

School of Graduate Studies

Regional and Local Development Studies

The Involvement of Micro and Small Enterprises in

Solid Waste Management Services in Addis Ababa:
, The Case of Bole and Arada Sub-cities

A Thesis Presented to the School of graduate Studies,

Addis Ababa University in Partial Fulfillment for the
Degree of Master of Arts in Regional and Local
Development Studies

By:
ABEBE TEGEGNE

ID .NO.GSE/1373/96 RL os

June 2006
Addis Ababa

.I
 Addis Ababa University
School of Graduate Studies
Regional and Local Development Studies (RLDS)

The Involvement of Micro and Small Enterprises in Solid

Waste Management Services in Addis Ababa:
The Case of Bole and Arada Sub-cities

Approved by Board of Examiners Signature

1. Chairman, Graduate Committee

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•
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

First and for most I thank my advisor Dr Tegegne Gebre Egziabeher for his
strict follow up and constructive comments and suggestions from the beginning
to the finalization of the study. With out his continuous support I doubt the
completion of this paper.

My grateful thank also goes to my wife Kassanesh Alemu, Children Fassil,

Kidist and Dawit Abebe for their great patience and support during my work
and my brother Ato Belay Bezabih who he helped me to attend modern
education for the first time .

I would like also thank my friend Wole Jamal for his uninterrupted material
and technical support and Ato Matebu Tadesse for his contribution in editing
the text.

I indebted a lso to thank institutions like SBPDA oper ation Department, Addis
Ababa City Micro and Small Enterprise Market Expansion Department, Bole
and Arada sub-cities' Solid Waste management team leaders, Network
Associa tion of Addis Ababa City Solid Was te m a n agement Enterpri se , a nd ECA
and World Bank Library staffs who supplied me with necessary information.

Last but not least, my thanks also goes to Haimanot who she typed the
•
manuscript timely.
 TABLE OF CONTENT
Page
Acknow led gem en t ---------------------------------------------------------------- i
Ta ble of Con ten ts--------- ------------------------------------------------ --------ii
List of Tables ------------------------------ --------------------------------------- v
Lis t of Pictures ---------------- --------------------------------------------------- vi
Acronym s ------------------------------------------------------------------- ------vii
Ab s trac t ---------------------------------------------------------------------------viii
CHAPTER ONE

, INTRO D U CTI 0 N ----------------------------------------------------------------- 1

1.1 . Background ---------------------------------------------------------- 1
1.2. Statement of the Problem ------------- -----------------------------2
1. 3. Objective of the Study----------------------------------------------4
1.3.1. General Objective ----------------------------------------4
1.3 .2. Specific Objec tives --------------------------------------- -4
1.4. Research Questions ------ ------------------------------------------ 4
1.5. Research Methodology --------------------------------------------- 5
1. 5. 1. Research Design ------------------------------------------5
1.5.2. Su rvey In struments -------------- ------------------------ 5
1.5.3. Sampling Procedure --------------------------------- -----6
1.5.4. Method of Data Analysis --------------------------------7
1. 5.5. Significance of the Study --------------------------------7
1.5.6. Scope of the Study ---------------------------------------- 8
1.5.7 . Limitation of the Study--:-------------------------------- 8
1.6. The Study Area ------------------------------------------------------ 8
1. 7. Organization of the Thesis ---------------------------------------- 9

11

,
 CHAPTER TWO
RELATED LITERATURE -------------------------------------------------------- 10
2.1 . The Role of Micro and Small Enterprises in Solid Waste
Ma n agement Services ---------------------------------------------- 10
2.1.1. The Involvement of MSEs in Solid Waste
Managemen t Services ------------------------------------ 10
2.1.2. Types of MSEs in Solid Waste Collection-------------- 17
2.1.3. Characteristics of Micro and Small Enterprises ----- 19
2.2. Empirical Li terature ------------------------ ------------------------ 20
2.2.1. The Experience of Latin America ----------------------- 20
} 2.2.2. The Experience of Asian Countries -------- ------------23
2.2 .3 . The Experience of Africa ---------------------------------25
2.3. Policy Environment and Legal Framework ---------------------26
2.3.1. Policy Environment --------------------------------------- 26
2.3.2. Legal Fra mework ----------------------------------------- 26
CHAPTER THREE
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION -------------------------- ------------------------ 28
3.1. Business, Operators and Employees Characteristics -------28
3.1.1. Operators and Employees Characteristics ---------- 28
3. 1. 2. Business Characteristics ------------------ ------- ------ 35
3.2. The Nature a nd Operation of Solid Waste Service ------------- 4 3
3.2. 1. The Nature of Solid Waste Service ---------------------43
3.2 .2 . The Operation of Solid Waste Service------------------ 48
3.2.3. Current Status of the Business Activity---------------57
3.2 .4 . Future Plan of the Enterprise---------------------------58
3 .3 . Method of Involvement in Solid Waste Activity-----------------59
3.3 .1. Open-Competition ----------------------------------------59
3.3 .2. Zoning ------------------------------------- ----------------- 60
3.3 .3. Contracting and Concession ----------------------------6 1

III

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 3.4. Income and Employment Conditions of Employees ----------62
3 .4.1. Employment Conditions ----- ------------ -- ------ ------ - 62
3.4 .2. Income of Employees ---- -- ----------------- --- --------- -66
3.4.3. Employees Future Prospects - ------ --------------- -- --- 68
3.5. Constraints, Problems and Ins tituti onal Support for
En terprise Growth ------------------- ---------- --------------------- 69
3.5 .1. Institutional Support ------------------------------------- 69
3.5.2. Constraints and Problems ------------------------------- 71
CHAPTER FOUR
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS -------------- ------------------- - 73
} 4.1. Conclusion ----------------------------------------------------------- 73
4.2. Recommendations ----------- ------------ ---- -------- ----------- ---- 74
818L! OG RAPHY ----------- ------------------------- -------- ---------------------- 77
APPENDICES
APPENDIX A ---- ------------------------------- -------- ----- ------- --------- ----- 1
APPEN DIX B -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5
APPEN DIX C -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6

IV
 LIST OF TABLES
Page
Ta ble 1: Sample s ize of MSE employees in bole and Arada sub-cities ---- --- --7
Ta ble 2 : Solid Waste Micro and Small Enterprises and Cooperatives in
Latin-America by Country and Activity ------- --------- ------ --- ---------- 21
Ta ble 3: The Participation of Men and Women in the Waste Collection
Enterprises ----- ---------- ------ --------------- --------- --- -- -- --- -- --- ---- ---- 23
Ta ble 4: Age of enterprise operators by sUb-city ------------------------- --------- 28
Table 5 : Age composition of employees by sub-city------------------- ------- ------- 29
Table 6: Cross t a bulation of marital status of enterprise oper a tors by
the number of d ep endents ----------- ------------ -- ---- --------- ---- ------- 30
Table 7: Employees marital s tatus by SUb-city -- ----------------------- -- ------- -- 30
Ta bl e 8: Birth place and ethnic background of enterprise opera tors by
Region ------ -- -- -------- ------- --- -- ---- ----- --------------------------- ------- 3 1
Ta ble 9: Employees Ethni c b ackground by origin ------- -- ------------ -- ------- -- 32
Table 10 : Educational s t atu s of enterprise operators by sub-city -------- ------ 33
Table 11: Employees level of education by sub-city --- ---------------------- ------ 33
Table 12: Distribution of enterprise operators by type of experience ----- ------ 34
Ta ble 13: Employees dependency before employm ent by type --------------- -- - 35
Table 14: Establishment of enterprises by year ----- --------------------- ------ -- 36
Ta ble 15: Enterprises office ownership by sub-city ----- ---- ---------------- ------- 37
Table 16: Enterprises organizational ownership by s ub-city ------- -- --- -- ---- -- 37
Table 17: Head of enterprises by typ e ---------------- -------- ------------- --- ----- -- 39
Table 18: Enterprises start- up capital by sub -city --- ----- ----------------------- 40
Table 19: Enterprises start up capital by source --- -------------- ---------------- - 41
Table 2 0: En'terprise initial and current total employees by sex"and
Sub city --------------------- ------- -------------- --------- ----------- --------- 43
Table 2 1: Enterprise lines of work in waste collection by sub-city --- --- ------ - 44
Ta ble 22: Service r ecipient by s ub-city ---- ----------------------------------------- 45
Table 23: Enterprises total number of clients by sub city ----------------- ---- --- 46

v
Ta ble 2 4: Attitude of enterprises towards their client number/ market
by su b -city ----- --------------------- -- ------------------------------ -------- 47
Table 25: Enterprises by number of pu s h carts owned by sub city ----- ------- - 49
Table 26: Ownership of garbage storage by sub-city ------- --------- ------------ - 50
Table 27 : Frequency of waste collection from clients by sub-city----- --- ----- --- 51
Table 28: Type of Waste Handling by Enterprises ---- --- -------- ------ ---- ----- --- 51
Table 29 : Enterprise temporary storage by sub -city ------- ---------- ---- --------- 53
Table 30: Type of waste transportation by ownership ------ ---------- ---------- -- 53
Table 3 1: Enterprise solid waste dumping s ite by sub-city --------- ----- -------- 55
Table 32: Use of enterprises separated m a terial by sub-city --------------- -- --- 56
Ta ble 33: Attitudes of MSEs how their involvement contribute to
Minimize solid waste management problems by sub-city----- -------- 57
Table 3 4 : Enterprises current general s tandard of the business by
Su b-city -- ---- -------- -- --- ------ ---- ---- ---- --- ----- -- ----- ---- ----- --- -- ---- 58
Table 35 : Enterprises future plan by su b-city --------- -------------- ----- ------- -- 59
Table 36: Workers employment by type ---- -------------------------- ------ ------ -- 63
Table 3 7: Workers recruitment criteria by sub-city--------- ----------- ------- --- -- 63
Table 38: Employees working hours per d ay by sub-city --- ------- ----- -------- - 64
Table 39: Employees working days per -weak by sub-city --------------- ---- ----- 65
Table 40 : Gender segregation in employment by s ub-city ----------------------- 66
Table 41: Distribu tion of employees by sex and sub-city --- ------------- -------- 66
Ta bl e 4 2: Employees wage p ayment per month by sub-city (in Birr) --- -------- 67
Ta ble 43: Employees wage payment by period ----------------------- ------ ----- --- 67
Ta ble 44: Employs' Future Plan by Sub-city --- ------- --- ------------------ --- --- --69
Table 45: Enterprises type of support by source ---------- ----------------- ---- ---- 70
1:able 46: Number of enterprise opera tors trained in, different activities ---- --- 71

LIST OF PICTURES
Picture 1: Temporary storage of enterprises ------- ----------------- ------- --------- 52
Picture 2: MSEs door-to-door collection by pushcarts ---------------------------- 54

VI
 ACRONYMS

MSE = Micro and Small Enterprise

WBG = World Bank Group

SBPDA= Sanitation, Beautification and Parks Development Agency

EPA = Environmental Protection Authority

MEDC = Ministry of Economic Development a nd Cooperation

NGO= Non-Governmenta l Organization

CBO = Community-Based Organization

ORAAMP = Office for Review of Addis Ababa Master plan Project.

MoTI = Ministry of Trade and Industry

AACAFEDB= Addis Ababa City Administra tion Finan ce a nd Economic

Development Bureau.

CSA= Central Statistical Authority.

VII
 ABSTRACT

In Addis Ababa as in many cities of the developing countries, solid waste micro
and small enterprises are involved in solid waste management services and
generating employment opportunities for urban labor force since 1998/1999. This
research is mainly emphasizing the management and job creation role that the
involving MSEs can play in solid waste services.

In order to achieve the objective of the study, a social survey with a questionnaire
covering a total population of 37 enterprises and a sample of 80 workers was
conducted on two purposely selected sub-cities, i.e. Bole and Arada. The survey
indicated that MSEs to do solid waste activity with limited start-up capital,
traditionally made labor-intensive working tools and workers with only few
health protective materials. Joblessness and Capability for physical work are the
major criterion for employment. The results of the research in general showed
that over three fourths of the MSEs participated in primary solid waste collection
using hand pushcarts up to the municipal transfer points through door to door
collection sys tem. Entrepreneurial activities in sorting, compost processing and
recycling are less developed though it is encouraging. MSEs are involved in solid
waste activity with the method of open-competition and zonal monopoly and have
personal relations to clients in tenns of contracts and payment of service charges.
Lack of working tools and shortage of finance are the two major constraints for
the operation and growth of MSEs. Some financial support for entry in the activity
depends on the social network of friendship and relatives rather than formal
financial institutions. Most of the MSE operators started solid waste activity
without any training but attracted by it as a survival strategy.

Generally the re is a need for s trengthening the MSEs growth by expanding the
micro- finan ce institutions and providing esp ecial finan cial s upport for the s olid
waste sector. Government and NGOs support s hould also be focused on training
and cons ultancy services or in general infonnative services concerning market,
documentation or accounting system. Encouraging public-private partners hip
with medium-scale enterprises to reduce the problem of waste transporting and
disposal is one of the main issues to be focused. In addition, government
(municipal) partial intervention on the method of MSEs participation should be
based on an objective assessment of the reality to minimize the conflict that
arises between the new entrants and existing MSEs in case of unnecessary
competition to be the sector effective. There is also a need for the government to
negotiate with the MSEs owners to ensure employees get at least the minimum
wage of the country.

VIII
 CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1. Background
Solid waste m a nagement is one of the most important urban services provided
under a municipal responsibility nearly in a ll developing countries. In urban
a reas, especially in the rapidly urbanizing cities of the developing world,
problems and issues of municipal solid waste management a r e of immediate
importance (Moningka, 2000: 5) .

As some studies show, huge a mount of solid waste is produced in urban ar eas.
In deve loping countries, it is common for municipalities to spend 20 to 50
percent of their available recurrent budget on solid waste management but 30
to 60 percen t of the waste remains uncollected and it is only less tha n 50
percent of the population that is served (Schubeler, 1996: 15 and WBG, 2001:
1). In some cases, as much as 80 percent of th e collection and transport
equipment is out of service and is in need of repair or maintenance (Ibid, 2001:
1). This indicates the coverage of solid waste collection service is so low tha t the
waste generated is dumped at many undesignated sites such as streets , open
spaces, drainage systems, or into or beside rivers which in turn contributes to
flooding , breeding of insect and vectors and the spread of diseases (Bartone,
1995: 2 and Haan, Coad and Lardinois, 1998: 8).

Most developing countries employ open dumping as their form of land disposal.
These dumpsites make very uneconomical use of th e available space, allow free
access to waste pickers, animals and flies and often produce unpleasant and
hazardous smoke from s low-burning fires. Such unsanitary disposal system
has a negative impact on the health of residents and e n vironment (WBG, 2001).
In general solid waste management is given low priority in developing countries .
Mu nicipa l solid waste m a n a ge m e nt is a complex task which depends upon the
organiza tion a nd cooper a tion between households, communities, private
enterprises p a rticularly the involvement of micro and small enterprises and
municipa l a uthorities in order to have appropriate waste collection, tra nsfer,
recycling a nd dis posal. Furthermore, wa ste m a nagement is an essentia l task
which h as importa nt consequences for public h ealth and well-being, the quality
a nd s u staina bility of the urba n environment (Schubeler , 1995: 15) . Although
solid waste management is the coordinated effect of all these a ctors, this paper
focuses o n the p articipa tion of micro and small enterprises.

1.2. Statement of the Problem

Addis Aba ba , the m etropolitan city of Ethiopia, like many other towns and cities
of the developing countries has a serious problem in the provision of a d equate
solid waste m a n agement services. Efficie ncy is low and a wide geogra phica l
a rea is n ot a d equa tely covered (H a an, Coad and Lardinois, 1998: 9). Howeve r,
solid was te m a n agem en t from storage through collection, transporting and
di s posal h as been the re sponsibility of the municipal governme nt for a long
period of time . Although severa l efforts we re m a de to improve the management
of services, the aesthe tic quali ty of the city has deteriorated a nd the health
s ituation of the co mmunity has come under serious threat (SBPDA, 2003: 1).
Es pecia lly children , refus e collection workers and scavengers are directly
exposed to exc r e ta rela t ed p a thogens a nd inte stinal parasites. Children a re
particula rly vulne ra ble a nd excreta-rela ted diseases a re responsible for one
qu a rter to on e h a lf of t h e deaths of children under the age of five (Ba rtone,
Be rnstein a nd Wr ight, 1990 : 3) .
According to th e study m a de by Gordon (1995) as cited in SBPDA (2 003) in
Addis Aba ba pe r ca pita generation ra te 0.252 kg/ cap / day, tota l daily
gen e ration is 0. 85 1 ton s/ day a nd the total annua l genera tion is a bou t
838,405 m 3. From the to tal waste genera ted in the city of Addis Ababa, 1482m3

2
of waste is collected and transpor ted per day and 540,789m3 per annual. This
accounted for about 65% of the total collection and disposal of waste. The rest
5% composted, 5% recycled and 25% of the waste is dumped in unauthorized
and open dumping areas. Based on this study, households account for 76% of
the total generation of waste, institutions/commercial, factories, hotels and
health facilities comprised 18% a nd street sweeping for 6% of the tota l
generation .

The rea l situation indicates that th e problem of solid waste m a n agement cannot
be solved with the mere efforts of the municipal government. So there is a need
for the invo lvement of the private sector in general and the micro and small
e nterprises in particular and the participation of the community a t large .
Currently a number of micro and small enterprises are emerging to participate
in primary solid waste collection. The emerging MSEs have tried to collect
garbage at the source from the household a nd transport it to the municipal
waste conta iners and transfer points.

This activity fills a gap in municipal waste collection effort. In a ddition to this,
MSEs in solid waste collection have a potential of creating employment. These
dual roles make these MSEs to be an importa nt area of investigation. From the
point of view of solid waste collection, it will be worth looking at how the MSEs
fill the gap; what const ra int th ey face a nd how they could be upgraded to
involve in higher-level municipal service. From the employment generation
poin t of view it will also be worthwhile to examine their capacity to generate
more employment and reduce poverty.

3
1.3. Objective of the Study
1.3.1. General Objective
The general objective of the study is to assess the involvement or participation
of micro and small enterprises (MSEs) in solid waste management services and
examine their constraints for gr owth.

1.3.2. Specific Objectives

The specific objectives of the study include the following:
1. To examine the nature and operation of solid waste service provided by
MSEs.
2. To identify the method of involvement of MSEs in solid waste
management.
3. To examine the income and employment condition of the MSEs
employees as well as their gender participation.
4. To identify the constraints and problems that hamper the operation a nd
development of MSEs and institutiona l support they receive in solid
waste management.

1.4. Research Questions

1. What are the m ain activities of MSEs in solid waste management and how
are these organized?
2 . Do solid wastes MSEs have a potential to form a strong entrepreneurship by
expanding their function into recycling, compo sting and disposing to final
dumpsite?
3. Do solid wastes MSEs playa role in generating employment and income for
the poor?
4. How is gender participation in primary solid waste collection?
5 . What type of support do the MSEs need?

4
1.5. Research Methodology
Th e s tudy areas for this survey are Bole and Arada sub-cities. These were
purposely selected because of their relatively better pa rticipation of solid waste
MS Es in solid waste m a nagement activities. The two study a reas will also help
to compa r e the MSEs pa rtic ipa tion in these two different locations. Since they
a re found in diffe rent n eighborhoods, they show different level of income.
1.5.1. Research Design
This s tudy was a soc ia l survey research design in order to collect information
from MSEs and from th eir sample workers. 'j'he survey research design is
selected to con s ider the MSEs and their sample workers variation in the study
areas . Data on th e varia bles of interest are collected more or less
s imultaneously at the same time through structured questionnaire a nd
un structured inte rviews method.
1.5.2. Survey Instruments
Primary Information: A s tru ctured questionnaire was administered to enterprises
and their sample employees who were engaged in solid waste management services
in Bole a n d Arada Sub-Cities. These enterprises and the sample workers we re
id en tified from a list of registered solid waste micro and small enterprises from the
two sub -cities' solid waste management team lead:!rs' office. The instrumen ts u sed
for data collection were face to face interviews and direct observation methods. The
research er with the h elp of thirteen research assistants filled -out the structured
ques tionnaire. The observation method was used in conjunction with the interview
to validate a nd compare information collected by the structured questionnaire.
Unstructured interviews were also conducted with sub-cities' solid waste team
lea d ers, SBPDA's Operation Department, Addis Ababa MSEs Development Agency's
Ma rket Expans ion Departme nt and with Ne twork Association of Addis Aba ba City
Solid Waste Management Enterprise .

5
Secondary Information: Information was collected from reference books,
international organizations publications and reports, journals, archives, SBPDA
documents and annual reports, eSA documents, other published and unpublished
materials and intemets.
Data Collection Met,,"od: Thirteen enumerators carried out data collection i.e.
seven in Bole and six in Arada. The enumerators were trained for two days to
clearly understand the questions and pilot surveys were done at selected MSEs by
the researcher for four days . To complete the questionnaire enumerators used
telephone addresses (calls) to make an appointment with the MSEs respondents
and filled out questionnaires. Data gathering was completed from May 20 to June
20,2005.

1.5.3. Sampling Procedure

1. Population Understudy
The populations to be studied under the study areas were the whole 37 MSEs
which were legally registered in Bole and Arada sub cities in solid waste
management activity. These are 22 enterprises in Bole and 15 enterprises in
Arada. The sample frame was the list of the names of all enterprises employees
under investigation in the two study areas.
The whole enterprises were taken as a study population in the two study areas.
Thus census method was used to take the whole MSEs which are engaged In

solid waste management services in the two study areas.

11. Sample Size and Sampling Method for Employees
The total number of MSEs workers were 801 in which 299 are found in Bole and
502 in Arada. Sample taking has two stages. First 10% of the 801 total employees
(80 sample workers in both study areas) were taken to represent the whole
employees. In the second stage, 19 enterprises or (50 percent) were randomly
selected from the 37 enterprises i.e. 11 MSEs from Bole and 8 from Arada sub-cities
to select sample workers from each enterprises. However 18.3% was used for total
sample selection, Sample workers were randomly selected using 17% from each 11
enterprises in Bole and 19.5% from each 8 enterprises in Arada through proportion

6
 to SIze method due to some variation In the two study areas . The numbers of
samples selected are shown below.
Table 1: Sample size of MSE employees in Bole and Arada sub-cities
In = 801 ,
S. List of MSEs in Bole Emtlovees List of MSEs in Arada Emlllovees
No Total Sample Total Sample
17%1 119.5%1
1 Abbav Sweeoim Service 17 3 Berhan Cleaning Service 69 13
2 Berueh Tesfa Company 12 2 Checheliya Sanitary 14 3
Service
3 Dvnamic Sanit~rv Services 26 4 Dink Cleaning Service 10 2
4 Hiwot Fana Sweening Service 12 2 Fikat Sweeping Service 20 4
5 United Friends 94 Sanitary 17 3 Nib cleaning service 9 2
Service
6 Goh Sweeping service IS 3 Tibeb Berhan Sh are 100 19
Comoanv
7 Haimanot and Families 5 I Tsedat Letena 8 2
8 Ne"at Solid Waste Disnosal 6 I ZebSef Initiative 26 5
9 Senarv Cleanin" Service 12 2
10 Tesfa Berhan Cleaning Service 12 2
11 Unity Integrated Sanitary 45 8
Services -- - _.
I Total 179 30 Total 256 50
..
Source: Archwes of Bole and Arada Sub-CItIes' SamtatlO,n, BeautificatIOn and Parks
Development Office.

1.5.4. Method of Data Analysis

The m ethod of d ata an a lysis was descriptive type, which mainly focused on
data presentation a nd analyzing using ratios, percentages and m ean with the
help of SPSS statistical techniques.
1.5.5. Significance of the Study
The Federal Constitution of Ethiopia on article 44 (1) says all persons have the
right to have a clean and healthy environment. This is a lso supported by the
National Environmental policy of Ethiopia (EPA and MEDC , 1997) which h as
given due atte ntion to sus tainable en vironmental improvement to a ll parts of
the country. But a city like Addis Ababa has a serious h ealth and
environmental problem, especially inadequate handling and disposal of
municipal solid waste is the most viable cause of environmental d egrada tion
(ORAAMP, 2002: 4) . So it is very important to s tudy the role of MS E s that play
in sustainable environmental manage ment activities a nd th eir significant
contribution in generatin g employment opportunities.

7
Thus the study is hoped to provide some information to policy makers a nd
environmenta l protection practitioners interested to assist financial, training
a nd legal provision which in turn m inimize the constraints of MSEs growth. The
study cou ld a lso help as background information for those researchers who
want to do an in-depth study in the future in Addis Ababa in general and the
problem areas Bole and Arada sub-cities in particular.
1 .5 .6 . Scope ~/the Study
The assessment of a ll micro and small enterprises involved in solid waste
management services and their impact on econ omic growth in depth study is a
very complex activity due to time and finance constraints. So the main fo cus of
this study was on those MSEs that were legally registered up to 2003/2004 to
do solid waste management activity.
1.5. 7. Limitation a/the Study
The m a in problem during the survey period was irregular a ddresses of MSEs.
Most of the MSEs had no specified working offices . So gettin g t h e responsible
individuals were very tedious and demanding frequent appointments. In
ad dition to this, sub-ciLies information handling system was inadequate . For
instance, changes in the names of MSEs and the current number of workers for
each MSE s were not timely recor ded. Most of the respondents were a lso
involuntary to tell MSEs monthly income and expenditure. Finally workers
inte rview was also problematic due to long hours of working t ime.
1.6 . The Study Area
The study areas for this survey are Bole and Arada sub-cities. These were
purposely selected because of their relatively better participation of solid waste
MSEs in solid waste management activities. The two study areas will also help
to compare the MSEs participation in t h ese two different locations . Since they
are found in differe nt neighborhoods, they show different level of income.
Bole is located in the Eastern and Northeastern part of Addis Ababa while Arada is
at the central part of the city.

8
According to the Office for Review of Addis Ababa master plan project (2001 /2002),
Bole h as the total area of 6955.4 hectare of land and Arada 1156.24 hectare.
Based on the 2005, population estimates of Addis Ababa city Administration
Finance and Economic Development Bureau, Bole has a total population of 325,
022 while Arada h as 330, 344. In term s of sex ratio, fem ale population is a little bit
larger than male popUlation in both sub-cities. For instance, Bole has 172,108
female and 152,194 male populations and Arada h as 174,647 female and 155,697
male populations. Administratively, Bole and Arada are two of the ten sub-cities of
Addis Ababa City Administration. Sub-city is the secon d administrative level next
to municipal government while kebele is the least a dministrative level next to sub-
city. Bole sub-city is comprised of eleven kebeles while Arada is composed of ten
k ebeles.

1. 7. Organization of the Thesis

Th e thesis is organized in four chapters. The fir st c h apter presents information

ahout the introductory part including statement of the problem , obj ective of the
study a nd research questions, methodology, significance, scope a nd limitation
of the study and the study area. The second chapter reviews the necessary
information that can enable to interpret the field results . The third chapter
focuses on the results a nd discussion of the operators, employees and business
char acteristics, the n ature and operation of solid waste service, method of
involvemen t, income a nd work ing conditions of employees a nd support and
constra ints of enterprises. The fourth chapter includes the con cluding a nd
recommending points.

9
 CHAPTER TWO
RELATED LITERATURE
2.1. The Role of Micro and Small Enterprises in Solid Waste
Management Services
2.1.1. The Involvement of MSEs in Solid Waste
Management Services
Sustainab le solid waste management services should not be achieved through
isolated or sectora l approaches but it can be attained through the participation
of differ ent s take hold e rs (ac tors) such as local authorities, NGOs a nd CBOs,
service users, private formal and informal sectors (MSEs) a nd donor agencies
(Schubeler, 1996: 19). This survey stresses on the involvement of micro a nd
small enterprises in solid waste activities.
The involvement of MSEs in wa ste services IS not n ew. The oldest garbage
collection MSEs h ave been found in La tin America (e.g. Guatemala a nd Costa
Rica) s ince early 1950s. These MSEs were set up without a ny specific stimulus
from public or private agencies, but began as business opportunity. The
greatest obstacle has bee n the reluctance to hire the sanitary services offered
by MSEs , the muni cipa lities' lack of confidence in establishing contacts with
the MSEs a nd in most cases officials in charge prefer companies with la rge
capita l investments and advanced technology even though this technology was
n ot adequate for cites in d eveloping countries and can not be afforded by them
(Querubin, 1996 as cited in Haa n, Coad and Lardinois, 1998: 14). It was in the
las t two decades that MSEs h ave com e in to fo cus as an importa nt econo mic
sector , providing employm e nt and incomes to a la rge section of the population
of low income countries (Ibid , 1998).In the literature two types of enterprises in
the private sec tor (forma l and informa l) are involved in solid waste managem e n t
services.

10
 1. Formal Private Sector Enterprises
The formal private sector refers to private sector corporations, institutions,
firms and individua ls, operating as registered and / or incorp orated bu sinesses
with officia l business licenses. It h as a n organized labor force govern ed by labor
laws, some degree of capital investment, and gen erally modern technology
(Furedy, 199 0 cited in Klundert a nd Lardinois, 1995: 10).
The form a l private sector includes a wide r ange of enterprise types including
large business establishments. As potential s ervice suppliers, private
enterprises are primarily interested in earning a return on their investment by
selling waste collection, transfer, treatment, recycling a nd / or d isposal services
(Schubeler, 1996: 23). As Klundert a nd La rdinois (1995) a rgued , they m ay
invo lve in the waste managem e nt system in a number of ways:
1. Entering into contracts paid by the municipality to perform collection,
processing, disposal or cleaning services for compensation.
2. Purchasin g the right to perform services a nd keep (a ll or part of) the
income gene ra ted.
3 . Entering into contrac ts with individuals or businesses for collection
services.
4. Functioning as a purchaser of recovered materials from the municipality
or th e collector.
Private sec tor waste collectors, therefore, m ay b e contracted dire ctly by
individual households, n eighborhood associations or business establishments.
More often, they operate under contractu al agr eement with municipa l
authorities (Schubeler , 1996 : 10) .

II. Informal Private Sector

The informal private sector comprises unregister ed, unregulated activities
carried out by individuals, families, gr oups, or small enterprises. The basic
motivation is revenu e gen e ra tion. Inform a l waste workers a re often driven to
wo rk as was te collectors or scavengers by poverty and the absen ce of m ore

1I
attrac tive e mploy ment possibilities (Sc hube ler, 1996 a nd Klund ert a nd
Lardino is , 1995: 11).
As Klundert a n d La rdinois (1 995) indicated informal ac tivities a re initiated
perso n a lly and s pontaneously (haphazardly) in the struggle fo r surv ival
a lth ou gh so m e e nterprises, especially the ones engaged in recycling activities
manage to make co nsidera ble profits. In general waste work is don e by
re li giou s., ca~ t e or e thnic minorities or rura l immigrants who a r e lookin g for a
way to gen erate subsisten ce income in an urban context.
The methods of MSEs Participation in Solid waste Management
The pa rtic ipatio n of the private sector which is common to a ll s olid waste
m a nagement services are put into four different ways by Cointreau 11 994: 2\:
I. Contracting: in thi s system th e government .,m::l.n .b a finite- ,e n,1
con tract to a private firm for the d e livery of solid wa1' t e collec tion service,
s treet swee ping service, the collection of recyclables, tra n s fer station
operation, disposal site ope ration, or fleet maintenance . Haa n, Coad and
La rdi nois (1998: 42) added that the cost incurred can be r ecoyercd by th e
municipality by charging user fees, through local taxation, or by o th er
mean s . Most experiences in con tracting waste services by MSEs is found
in South America i.e. in Colombia, Pe ru a nd Bolivia, for example , t!-le
majority of th e waste management MSEs are contracted by municipa lities
as an exte n sion of th e municipal solid waste systems . Micro a nd small
e nte rpri ses work in places whe re municipal waste collec tion truck s can
not go , or in peri-urba n a reas that have a low population density, w h ere
convention al municipal services are too expensive. Amo ng ~h e v;;;-i.:..l-S ::. ;~~:C' ~" "

for private sector participation conLracting for solid waste se, 'lice hold " ,ne
greatest. pro lnise to developin g countries as a way o f 1 ~)VI(; J · l ~~~ cos t.

2 . Concession: here the government awards a concessio n to a priva te finn

to set up a facility that utilizes the government owned resources-refu3e .
This system m ay e n able th e private firm to recycle mat'Crl 8ls (pap er ,
p lastic, metal a nd glass) from refuse. It can also be to recover resources

12
 such as compost, heat and electricity from refuse or to transfer or dispose
of refuse. This concession can be long-term or after a specified period of
private ownership or operation. As Haa n, Co ad and Lardinois (1998 : 44)
mentioned, concessions are not common with MSEs because they
demand high capital investment for the> purchase or construction of
facilities. There a re few examples of concessions involving MSEs in the
waste sector that could derive income from the sale of recovered
materials, such as plastics, clothes, glass and tin cans in Guatemala.
Concession arrangements involve building, owning, and operating
facilities through long-term ownership agreements.
3 . Zonal Arrangement: with this system the government awards a finite
term of zonal monopoly to a private firm for the delivery of solid waste
collection service. The private firm deposits a performance bond with the
government and pays a license fee to cover the government's costs of
monitoring. The private firm r ecovers its cost and profit through direct
charges to the households and e stablishments that are served. The
government provides control over the tariff charged to the consumer
through development of a dequate competition and control of price
collusion or price regulation . By zonal system, private firms collect user
charges from each household and establishment that r eceives private
service. Thus, th e private firms must individually bear the cost of billing
and collecting user charges. Zonal a rrangement is popular in large cities
in the united state from large generators, such as a large commercial
establishment (hotels, d epartment stores) and large industries.

4. Open Competition: in this system the government freely allows qualified

private firms to compete for refuse collection, r ecycling, or disposal
services . In open competition individual households and establishments
make private arrangements with individual firms for refuse collection,
recycling, or disposal services. Competition is a k ey factor to getting low-
cost solid waste se rvice from private contractors . Here no fi rm hold s a
13
 zo nal monopoly and a ny number of firms m ay compete within the same
zone. In open competition government grants a license to qualified
individual firms for the private provision of d isposal services . The
government's role in open competition is to license, monitor, and as
needed, sanction private firms.

III. Rationale and Justification fo r Private Sector (Formal and

informal) Participation in Waste Management Systems
Klundert and Lardinios (1995: 13-16) have identified p otential benefits of formal and
informal private sector is the waste management system, local economy and sociaJ
and environmental benefits in the fo llowing ways:
A. Formal Private Sector:
Potential benefits to the waste management system include :
1. Greater efficiency and enha nced performa nce due to organization, more
flexible employee and the introduction of cor.1petition;
2. Better management and accountability due to the private business functions
as a contractor;
3. Faster response- associate d with the ability of private business people to
raise capital as opposed to the relatively long lead times involved In

governmen t decis ion -making andlor the donor grant process, or with
gove rnmen t procurement procedures;
4. Higher service ethics attract new clients;
5 . Greater flexibility in terms of purchase of land and sitting of facilities;
6 . Greater access to experience and technology due to its potential to create
partnerships with experienced private businesses in other countries and
regions; and
7. Risk reduction by transferring unpredicta ble costs or unreliable revenues on
to the private operator.
Potential benefits to the local economy include:
1. Creation of a more robust commercial sector in the economy;
2 . Generation of sustain able employm ent; and

14
 3. The recovery of valuable m aterials from recycling activities, which can be
locally u sed without loss of hard currency or foreign exchange .

Social and e nvironm en tal benefits include:

1. Con servation of resources when materials are recovered.
2. Reduction in environmental change from exploiting pnmary resources,
including mining and defore station.

B. Informal Private·Sector:
Potentia l benefits to the waste management system:
1. The successful recovery a nd return of waste to productive use which
would have e nded in the waste stream;
2. The handling of large volumes of materials at no or marginal cost to th e
municipal governme nt;
3 . Reduction of th e amount of waste m a t"rials reqUlrmg collection and
tran sport;
4. Risk reduction, by transferring marginal activities, unpredictable costs or
unreliable revenues to the private operator;
5. Provis ion of waste re moval and sanitary services to un-served (generally
poor) sector s of the city ; a nd
6. Provision of service at no- cost to th e municipality.
Potential benefi ts to the local economy include:
1. The supplying of raw materials to the local manufacturing sector without
recourse to foreign exchange or import;
2 . The maintenance of a large and available stock of secondary resources to
stimulate industrial production;
3. Providing of inco me -gen e ra ting activity for a large number of p eople; a nd
4. The availabili ty of a tier of products for poor people, such as conta iners,
h a rnesses, and wheels made from recycled materials which improve the
living standard of poor p eople at a price that they can afford.

15
Social and environmental benefits include:
1. Providing employment for a number of people who might oth erwise not be
able to survive;
2. Supporting communities and providing family and neighborhood cohesion;
3. Conservation of resources wh en materials are recovered;
4. Reduction in environmenta l damage from exploiting primary resources,
including mining and deforesta tion;
5. Reduction in use of water in primary production; a nd
6. Improvement of health and safety conditions when informal activities are
recognized a nd supported.
IV. Disadvantages of MSEs in Solid Waste Collection:
According to Scheinberg (2001:31-32) solid waste MSEs h as disadvantages
in waste collection activities in the following aspects.
Policy a nd Legal Aspect:
1. A more complex legal constru ction and
2. More complex task for the local auth ority.
Institutional Aspect:
1. There are many points of management, not just one and
2. There is always a danger of failing; a lso they may not d are to signal
problems.
Social and Cultural Aspect:
1. They may be conservative and unwilling to introdu ce change;
2. Innovation and socia l ch ange may a lso be difficult to s timulate and
3. They may be subject to local partisanship a nd local a lliances.
Economic a nd Financial Aspect:
1. the access to large outside sum s of money is reduced;
2. There a re difficulties to mobilize capital for investment;
3. May be conflicts between desired servIce levels and hygienic
con siderations;
4. The wo rk is dirty and has low socia l status a nd

16
 5. The work is hard and may cau se physical problems or damage in workers
and their draugh :: animals.
Environmental Aspect:
1. Short hauling potential limits ability to remove waste to safe disposal and
2 . Risks development of a lot of uncontrolled secondary collection sites
which become illegal dumps .
Technical and Performance Aspect:
1. Not all clients can pay for the service, so th e MSE may not cover its costs
and
2 . Local rivalries may in troduce problems.

2.1.2. Types of MSEs in Solid Waste Collection

There are five types of MSEs in solid waste management services including:
1. Service-based MSEs: these are enterprises which get their income from
performing a service paid by clients, beneficiaries or a combination. The
unit of payment is done by th e h our , day and m onth; by district or street
or by the quantity of waste. The major services done by these MSEs are
waste collections, park maintenance, street sweeping and industrial or
commerc ia l cleaning (Scheinberg, 2000: 7).
2. Commodity-based MSEs- s u ch type of MSEs are set up by local
entrepren eurs (or small businessmen) who perceive the delivery of waste
services as a business opportunity. T:1ese enterprises are entirely
'demand-led', seeking to fill a gap and ge n e rate income . They bring some
capital (or funds borrowed from friends a nd relatives a nd , probably
relevant technical and managem ent skills) . The operator s are profit-
driven and motivated to continue the delivery of the serVlce, and if
possible, steadily improve the e ffi ciency and size of the operations a nd
the quality of the service Fasika and Daniel (1 997: 140) a nd Haan, Coad
and La rdinois (1998: 13).

17
As Schein berg, Klundert a nd Rudin (2000: 7-10) commodity based enterprises
get their inco me by selling at a profit materials or products which they h ave
salvaged, produced or bought. Unit of payment is by weight, volume, or item
suc h as kilos of paper, cubic m eters of compost or a lamp made from a tin can .
Examples of such activities are recyclers, junk shops, t ire ret readers, small
scale m anufacturers and compost businesses.
3. Value- based MSEs: enterprises which serve a socia l, religious,
e nvironmental, or cultural purpose, whose primary goal is some form of
social or cultural change or strengthening or environmental protection,
and who see involvement in urban waste management as either an
economic activity to s upport their promotion of values, or as a m eans to
raise awareness and consciousness in their chosen areas of fo cus
(Scheinberg, 2000: 13). These services are mostly set up by external
agencies for social purposes usually to provide employment (Haan, Coad
and Lardinois, 1998: 13).
4 . Private MSEs: a private MSE IS basically a small private company, m
which an owner or e ntrepreneur organizes employees and resources to
generate a profit from waste activity. The owner chooses to work in the field
of waste management because he sees an opportunity in this form of work or
because he has particular resources, skills, experience or contacts in the
field. A private MSE is concerned about profit, not about the need s of the
community and the protection of the environment. As a result they tend to
work in the areas where their profits will be greatest that is, the middle-and
high -i n com e areas Fasika and Daniel (1997:140) and Haan, Coad a nd
Lardinois (1998: 22-23).
5. Co-operatives: many forms of MSE contain an element of 'collective'
action. One model in this in which self-employed waste workers,
previously working independently, decide to work together (e.g. in Brazil
and Colombia). Workers a re often motivated to join together because of
outside th r eats such as from government or "middlemen" dealers (Haan,
Coad and Lardinois, 1998: 23).

18
 2.1.3. Characteristics of Micro and Small Enterprises
Involved in Waste Collection
Small firms have some special characteristics that set them a part and make
t he process of management different from that of large firms. The main
characteristics of small enterprises set by Burns (1996: 5) are:
1. One p er son- the owner manager has an overwhelming influence on the
firm. Their views and values influence a ll aspects of its activities.
Business decisions become personal decisions and there is also the risk
of over-dependency upon one individual for the well-being of the firm .
2. Most small firms are unlikely to be able to exert much influence on their
market. They are likely to face significant competition, which makes th e
risk of fa ilure high.
3. Small firms a re likely to be over-reliant on a small number of customers.
They are particula rly vulne rable to losing anyone customer and the effect
on the firm of such a loss will be disproportionately large.

The following ide ntifia ble criterion was developed by Ali, Cotton and Beall
(1998: 5) to ela borate the characteristics of micro-enterprises, however,
entrepreneurship ' may ch a nge from one group to another:
l. The service provider is profit-motivated and so the service is charged and
non -paye rs may be excluded.
2. The service is m a rketed by a n individual or a small group to a small area
such as a neighborhood, or group of houses with a total number of units
'not more tha n 1000.
3 . The service provider will manage the serVlce and invest In th e
organization, keeping in view a ll the market risks.
4. The service provider may take the triple role of laborer, manager and
owner of th e e nte rprise.
5. The service provider has the major role in hiring and firing the workers,
fixing their remuneration, negotiating new contracts and subcontracts.
19
Haan, Coad a nd Lardinois (1998: 12-13) m entioned that solid wastes MSEs
h ave the following ch aracteris tic s:
1. MSEs often u se low-cost and la bor intensive equipment and machinery,
such as h a nd carts or donkey carts . Other MSEs also u se tractors and
trucks.
2 . MSEs ch a racteristically employ few regular workers. Often laborers a r e
hired on a casu a l or short-term basis. Ma n y MSEs r ely on fa mily workers
who are often not paid for their work.
3. There is often limited division of labor in that most of the workers doing
m ost of th e tasks with little specialization.
4 . MSEs may work w ithout written contracts. MSEs in some areas a re
mostly in th e informal sector in that they are not legally r egistered a nd
ope rate with ou t a license, without paying tax, and without conforming to
labor legisla tion (such as minimum pay laws, provision for pension and
insurance, a nd safety requirements). But in other places they a re
registered and conform to a ll legal requirements.
5. The wages of employees are often low, irregular and insecure.
Scheinberg, Klu ndert a nd Rudin (2000: 7) also add the following characteristics
of MSEs:
1. Personal and family networks subsidies operations in hidden ways .
2. Poor ability to analyze own cost factors a nd performance, in part due to
the e nta n glem ent of personal, social and economic functions.
3 . Allow for relatively high degree of personal autonomy and indepe ndence .
4. [nnovative an d fl exible .
5. Personal r ela tionships to clients.
2.2. Empirical Literature
2.2. 1. The Experience of Latin America
A s tudy of private sector pa rticipation in Latin America shows that most of th e
firm s we re small to m edium-sized indicating that there were no barrier s to
entry (Coin treau, 1994: 21 ). As Haan , Coad a nd Lardinois (1998: 19) indicated

20
that a ll technical tasks a re handled by MSEs, but the majority of small
contrac tors a r e involved In clea ning of public areas , collection a nd was te
recove ry such as recycling and composing. The following table shows the
principal activities/ se rvices provided by MSE in different Latin American
countries. It seems that collection is the most important service offered by
m a ny MSEs. Recovery is a lso undertaken especially by MSEs in Costa Rica a nd
Gua tema la.
Table 2 : Solid Waste Micro and Small Enterprises and Cooperatives in
Latin-America by Country and Activity
Countrv I'rinci ual Activitv/ Service No o f Enterprises
S treet sweeping and cleaning 2
Guatemala Collec tion a nd transportation 6
Final disposal I
Recoverv and sorting 5
Collection 5
El Salvador Recove ry a nd sorting 4
Composting 1
Collection 7
Recovery 8
Costa Rica Final Disposal 1
Beach Cleaning I
Collection 5
Colombia Recoverv 3
Recovery 1
Brazil Selection / Collection 2
Sweeping/ Collection 9
Bolivia Stree t Collection + Trans port 9
Sweeping/ Cleaning I
Peru Collection 15
Final Disposal I
Recoverv a nd Segregation 2
Source: Arroyo (1998) CIted by Haan et ai, (1 998: 20)

These MSEs a r e organized and initia ted by different actors. These are:
1. Small entrep reneurs (Priva te MSEs) : In t h e cities of Guatema la, El
Salvador a nd Costa Rica , small entrepreneurs offer waste collection
services directly to the population with municipal approval.
2. Informal recovery workers: Recovery wor kers (waste pickers a nd
itine ra nt waste buyers) initiate an organization and undertake
en tre preneuria l wo rk. They r eceive support from churches .

21
 Cooperatives m Brazil a nd Colombia are examples of this type of
initia tive .
3. Community-Based Organizations: These are organizations form ed
by the community to respond to its own needs. Examples are found in
Costa Rica, E I-Salvador and Guatema la. These cooperatives basically
respond to community interests and usually have very limited
rela tion s hips with the municipalities.
4. NGOs: These types of initiative comprises small and micro enterprises
formed with the support of NGOs that have close links with th e
communities and which generally work in waste collection in low
incom e areas. This can be found in Bolivia, Peru and Colombia
(www. gdrc .org).

Haan, Coad a nd La rdinois (1998 : 22) mentioned that there a re four basic types
of solid waste MSEs in Latin America. These are:
1. Private MSEs, working to make a profit;
2. Cooperatives, providing mutual support for t h eir workers;
3. Community-based enterprises, established to meet a local need.
4. La bor contracted by individual or local organization, again to m ee t a
local n eed .
Micro and s m a ll enterprises m Latin America are found to have significant
employment co n tributions. It was learned that about 10,000 jobs were created
in Gua tem a la , Columbia a nd Peru out of the total of 500 enterprises . A
s ignifican t aspect of MSEs involved in waste collection is their gender
participation. It is evide nt that the street swee ping private enterprises a nd
cooperatives prefer to contract women b ecause they consider them to b e m ore
efficient a t thi s work tha n m e n. This decision is based on the gender stereotype
which views women to clean the home, feel comfortable with this type of work,
a nd can transfer their domestic cleaning experience to the public arena.

22
Table 3: The Participation of Men and Women in the Waste Collection
Enterprises
Country Total No No of No of Percent Percent
of Workers Women Men Women Men
El-Salvador 25 2 23 8 92
Costa Rica 31 2 29 6 94
Guatemala 49 1 48 1 99
Colombia 55 9 46 16 84
Peru 123 72 51 59 41
Bolivia 231 76 155 33 67
Source: (www.gdrc.org)
Table 3 above shows the participation of women III the waste collection
enterprises III Central America is minimal. In Peru and Bolivia, the
participation of women is much higher. This is due to the influence of the
majority of the NGOs, who guided the formation processes of the enterprises,
including the selection of the poor, unemployed women from the marginal
urban areas. Sludies in Peru show lhal women remain in the enterprises longer
where as most of the men consider it to be a temporary job. Quite many men
prefer to leave the private enterprises and cooperatives immediately upon
finding a job or occupation considered more prestigious than garbage
collection. Women on the other hand, see this job as their only source of
income and perform well with more responsibility and continuity. The majority
of the active associates are women and almost 70 percent are informal or
formal leaders.
2.2.2. The Experience of Asian Countries
In 1987, Bangkok contracted for services three districts. The cost for the
contract service appears to have been lower for each ton than the costs for
public services. The private service was also considered to be of adequate
quality. In 1988 Jakarta b egan to experiment with the private contracting for
collection in 261 s ub districts (10 percent of the city's waste generating area),

23
which we re comprised of middle-to high-income residents in relatively laid out
developments (Cointreau, 1994: 22).

Two typ es of enterprises participate m solid waste management activities m

South Asia. These are:
1. Community- based enterprises and
2 . Labor contracted by community leaders or social organization.
Community participation is supported by an international NGO . For instance,
EXNORA is an international NGO which is active in many Indian cities such as
Chennai (Madras). This NGO seeks to act as a catalyst to create local 'Civic
EXNORAS' which are street-level community-based associations of some 75 to
100 loca l households that organize waste-services. They contract local waste
pickers (who are renamed 'street beautifiers') for waste collection and street
clea ning. They are provided with a small loan (about US 165 dollars) for the
purchase of a waste cart (often a specially designed tricycle) and working
capital, and collect waste management fees (approximately 0.30 US dollars per
fa mily pe r month) (Rankuma r, 1996 cited in Haan, Coad and Lardinois, 1998:
24) . In a reas excluded from regular solid waste collection, residents may decide
to organize such services themselves in order to ensure cleaner urban
e nvironment.

La bor contracted by community leaders or social organizations in South Asia

mainly refers to the provision of waste services by direct labor contracting by a
group of residents, community leaders, CBOs, NGOs or another organization (Ibid,
1998: 24).
In Indonesia, for instance, many local leaders, especially of low-income
n eighborhoods, organize the community to deliver household refuse to a communal
depot, or hire and manage workers from the neighborhood for door-to-door waste
collection using handcrafts (Cointreau, 1994: 28). In Seoul (Korea), approximately
35 percent of the solid waste is collected by 85 private contractors, each of which is
a rel a tively small firm with an average of 6 vehicles (Cointreau, 1994: 21) .

24
The informal waste collectors in South East Asia participate in different ways. For
example, Jakarta h ad a daily waste production of over 2 1,000m3, 25 percent of
which was recovered by an estimated 37 ,000 scavengers. These activities save the
city about 270,000 to 300,000 US dollars per month. The recycling rates for glass
and paper are as high as 60 to 8 0 percent. The waste pa p er collected by scavengers
compri ses 90 percent of the secondary raw material in this sector. By delivering
378,000 tons of waste paper per year to paper factories for recycling purposes, the
scavengers save 6 million trees from b eing cut down (Klundert and Lardinois,
1995: 15).
As Klundert and Lardinois quoted in CCAPS, 1992 and Bentley, 1988, in Metro
Manila an estimated number of 17,000 people make their living as dump site
scavengers and over 20,000 women work as paper pickers in Ahmedabad.
2.2.3. The Experience of Africa
Private solid waste entrepreneurs are spread a ll over the city of Dares Salaam.
Most of th eir activity is con cen trated in residential neighborhoods and is biased
towards the middle and high er incom e areas. There is a bsolutely no private sector
solid waste collection activity in low-income areas. In a recent survey about 70
percent of the small firms mainly serve middle-income and some lower-middle
income areas. On average each of these s mall firms serves a bout 500 clients
(\\;ww.unchs.org).

In Cairo, an informal sector s olid waste collection system involving 12 ,000 workers
has existed for th e past cen tury (Cointreau, 1994: 28). In Nairobi in 1988 organized
commercial private sector companies such as Bins and Disposal Services Limited
is registered to manage, collect and dispose solid waste from industries,
ins titution s, commercia l establishments and high-income residential areas. By
1996 the combined daily collection capacity of the two private companies was 400
and 100 tons respectively (www.unchs.org).
In Lagos (Nigeria), th ere are nearly 100 private contractors, most with only 1 or
2 vehicles and less than 10 with more tha n 5 vehicles (Ibid, 1994: 2 1).

25
In Lagos the younger workers are considered to be less motivated to work in solid
waste MSEs, while the older workers are considered to be more hardworking and
reliable . This is because younger workers are better educated than the older workers
and view their job in sanitation as temporary employment, where as the older
workers view it as life-long career (Cointreau, 1994: 10).

2.3. Policy Environment and Legal Framework for MSEs

Involved in Waste Management in Acldis Ababa
2.3.1. Policy Environment
The solid waste management policy of Addis Ababa City Administration (2003: 13)
allowed the private sector to participate in the following areas:
1. Private sectors should participate in solid waste collection or transporting or
in the provision of disposal sites or in all management services privately or
in partnership with government
2. Institutional waste collection, transporting and disposal services should be
covered by the private sector.
3. The private sector should participate 111 solid waste management machinery
maintenance, in machinery and vehicles prC'vision services or participate in the
production of equipments, alternative transporting vehicles or spare parts .
..
4. Those organized micro business enterprises and associations participated in
solid waste related services should be encouraged.
5. Private sectors should be encouraged to participate in the areas of selling
and use of compost processing, in the purchasing, selling transporting or in
the recycling activities.
6. Private investors should support or give aid for municipal solid waste
management activities in order to accomplish their social responsibilities.
2.3.2. Legal Framework
Legislation related to solid waste management in developing countries is usually
fragmented, and several laws (for example, public He!lith ~ct, Local Government
Act, Environmental protection Act , etc) include some clauses on rules/regulations
regarding solid waste management. The rules and regulations are enforced by the

26
different agencies (Bartone, 1995 :3). This is also true in Ethiopia regarding solid
waste management laws.

The federal con s titution of Ethiopia on article 44(1) says all persons h ave the right
to a clean a nd h ealthily environment. Although there is no standardized rules and
regulations in Ethiopia, the Addis Ababa City Government issued very recently
regulations 13/20 04 on waste management collection and disposal. The regulation
on its preamble says, it is appropriate to manag", collect, transport and dispose
waste generated from the city of Addis Ababa in a manner that does not pollute the
environment and harm health. In this regulation article 3(6) also says any person
has the responsibility to keep the area clean covering up to 20 meters in front of
and away from the end of his household, organization or institution, on which he
has possession. In addition article 4 prohibits disposing of waste in unauthorized
p lace .

In its part article 17 (1) allowed the private sectors to participate in the collection,
transportation a nd dispos ing of solid waste through different participatory or
transferring methods. 0n the responsibilities of private organizations, micro and
small-scale enterprises engaged in sanitary service 18(1) says any person or a
cooperative, or micro and small en terprise that provides sanitary service, shall take
appropriate safety measures, to protect the health of the co~munity and reserve
the welfare of the environment.

On the power and functions of the agency (SBPDA), article 21(6) the responsibility
to e n courage private investors, cooperatives, and micro and small enterprises,
NGOs a nd community associations to engage in solid waste management.
According to a rticle 25 (1) any p erson residing in the territorial jurisdiction of Addis
Ababa city Government, s h a ll p ay sanitation fee for the sanitary service h e/ it
receives. Finally, it passed a p enalty for a person, who has committed one or more
fault provided in these regulations. The small and micro enterprises engaged in
sanitary service shall obtain , for limited period of time, and free of charge service of
landfill own ed by the government as incentives (article 29(2)).

27
 CHAPTER THREE
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
3.1. Business, Operators and Employees Characteristics
3.1.1. Operators and Employees Characteristics
1. Sex and Age Composition
The sex composition of the people engaged In solid waste micro and small
enterprise activity in the two study areas revealed that 86.5 percent of the
enterprises were run by male operators whereas only 13.5 percent are run by
female oper a tors. At the sub-city level, 20 percent of the enterprises in Arada
and 9.1 percent in Bole are run by female operators. This shows that male
operators are larger by far than female operators in the study areas.

Table 4 s hows that 86 .3 percent of the operators in Bole and 80 percent in

Arada were found in the age group of 25-39 years. About 63.3 percent of young
(25-29 years) solid waste entrepreneurs were found in Bole. This indicates that
most of the MSEs operators were young entrepreneurs probably because the
activity of so lid waste m a nageme nt can be done more easily by youngsters than
older p eople.
Table 4: Age of enterprise operators by sub-city (N= 37)

Sub-city
Age category Bole Arada Total
F % F %
25-29 14 63.6 4 26.7 18 48.6
30-34 2 9.1 5 33.3 7 18.9
35-39 3 13.6 3 20.0 6 16.2
40-44 3 13.6 1 6.7 4 10.8
>45 - - 2 13.3 2 5.4
Total 22 100% 15 100% 37 100%
Source: Own survey, AddIs Ababa, 2005
F = Frequency

28
The age structure of the employee shows that about 60 percent of the workers
belon g to the age group of 20-29 years in the two sub-cities in general and in
each sub-city in particular in the study areas. Table 5 showed that 88.8 percent
of the employees were found at the age group 15-34 years where as only 11 .3
percent were at th e age group 35 a nd above . As the study results showed most
of the employees were young which were at the age groups of 15-34 year s. This
is probably due to th e high unemployed people at this age group . The refore , the
survey result is inconsistent with the study made in Lagos by Coninteau (19 94)
that younger worke r s are less motiva ted to work in solid waste MSEs wn~-
,,
older worker s a re conside red to be hard wor king and reliable .
Table 5: Age composition of employees by sub-city In = 80)
Sub-City
Workers age Bole Arada Total
F % F %
15-19 2 6 .7 9 18.0 11 13.8
20- 24 11 36.7 17 34 .0 28 35.0
25-29 7 23.3 13 26.0 20 25.0
30-34 7 23.3 5 10.0 12 15. 0
35-39 1 3.3 3 6.0 4 5.0
40 and above 2 6.7 3 6.0 5 6.3
Total 30 100% 50 100% 80 100%
Source: Own survey AddIS Ababa, 2 005
II. Marital Status and Dependency
About 70.3 percent of the operators in the study areas were married, whereas
29 .7 percent were sin gle (Table 6) . About 51.4 percent of both m a rried and
single operators had a dependent of two to five and 32.4 pe rcent of the
operators had s ix to ten family members (children a nd adults) with some
varia tion at the sub-city level. According to the results, most of the operators
have a large fam ily whic h is directly dependent on them . This implies that
MSEs in solid waste service s upport a large number of people . Thus solid waste
MSEs can playa s igni fi cant role in urba n poverty reduction strategy.

29
Table 6: Cross tabulation of marital status of enterprise operators by the
number of dependents IN = 37)
Dependents Marital status
Single Married Divorced Widowed Total
1 2 18.2 3 11 .5 5 13.5
2-5 5 45.5 14 53 .8 19 51.4
6-10 4 36.4 8 30.8 12 32.4
>10 - - 1 3.8 1 2.7
Total 11 29.7 26 70.3 37 100%
Source: own survey, Addzs Ababa, 2005

The survey indicated that about 65 percent of the employees were single and 30
percent were married . In terms of sub city, single accounted for 70 percent in
Arada and 56.7 percent in Bole . Married employees are higher in Bole (43.3
percent) than Arada sub-city (22 percent) (Table 7). From the total unmarried
employees, about 43.8 percent made their living alone with rented house and 18.8
percent together with their mother and father. As the survey results showed most
of the MSE employees are single probably due to low income and j ob insecurity.
This implies that low -income has a negative impact on employees' family
formation.
Table 7: Employees marital status by sub-city In= 80)
Sub-City
Marital status Bole Arada Total
F % F %
Single 17 56 .7 35 70.0 52 65.0
Married 13 43.3 11 22.0 24 30.0
Divorced - - 3 6.0 3 3.8
Widowed - - 1 2.0 1 1.3
Total 30 100% 50 100% 80 100%
Source: Own survey Addzs Ababa, 2005

30
 III. Ethnic Background
About 54 .1 percent of th e operators were from the Amhara nationality.
However accordin g to the popula tion and Housing Census of Ethiopia (CSA, 1994)
they represen ted a bout 48.3 percent of the total population of Addis Ababa . The
rest comprises the Oromo 27 percent, Gur aghe 13.5 percent and Tigrai 5.4 percent
(Ta ble 8).
Da ta regarding the birth place of operators revealed tha t 54.1 percent of the
operators we r e from Addis Ababa, 21.6 pe rcent from Amhara Region , 13.5
p ercent from Oromiya Region and 5.4 percent from sou thern Nations
Nationalities and Peoples Region a nd Tigrai Region each . This indicates that
most of th e ope rators a re not migrants .
Table 8: Birth place and ethnic background of enterprise operators by
ree:ion IN = 37l
Ethnic Backe:round
Birth Place Amhara Oromo Tie:rai Gurae;e Total
Addis Aba b a 10 50.0 7 70.0 3 60.0 20 54.1
Amhara R. S. 8 40.0 8 21.6
Oromiva 2 10.8 3 30.0 5 13.5
SNNPR.S 2 40.0 2 5.4
Tie:rai R.S . 2 100% 2 5.4
Total 20 54.1% 10 27% 2 5.4% 5 13.5% 37 100%
Sou rce: Own survey, Add!s Ababa, 2005

About 48.6 percen t of the opera tors were migrants. Among the migran ts,
h owever, about 32.4 percent a re urban migran ts from the four Region s to
Addis Ababa. Urban to urba n migration is higher than rural to urba n
migration. In ge n e ra l a bout 54 .6 percent of the migrant operators were found in
Bole and 40 perce nt in Arada. This shows that most of the operators in Bole
wer e migra nts th an Ara da. The results of the two s tudy areas were incon siste nt
with the review of Klunri ert and La rdinois (1995) who said waste activity is don e
by rura l immigrants who a re looking for a way :0 generate subsistence income
in a n urba n context. He a lso a dded that it is a lso done by religious, caste or
ethnic minorities. This howeve r is not true in the case of Addis Aba ba.

31
Table 9 showed th at 47.5 percent of the employees were the Amhara people, and
28 .8 percent are the Oromos. About 77.5 p ercent (62) of the employees were
migrants originated from four regional states (i. e . Amhara, Oromiya, Southern
Nations and Nationalities a nd Tigrai) . Of the total employees 60 .1 percent (48) of the
migrants were recent arrivals (since 1988-2005) and most of the migrants had
ethnic ties with the Amhara and Oromo who are living in Addis Ababa. At the sub-
city level, 52 percent of the employees in Arada were the Amhara people and 20
percent the Oromos . I n Bole, 43.3 percent of the employees wer e the Oromo people
and 40 percent Amhara people. Therefore, the two dominant ethnic groups that are
involved in solid waste MSEs in th e two study areas are the Amhara and the Oromo.
Table 9: Employees ethnic background by origin In = 80)
Sub-citv
Employees ethic origin Bole Arada Total

Amhara
F
12
%
40.0
F
26
%
52.0 38 47.5
I
Oromo 13 43.3 10 20.0 23 28.8
Tigrai
Gurage 2
1 3 .3
6 .7
2
5
4.0
lO.O
3
7
3.8
8.8
I
Wolayita - - 4 8.0 4 5.0
Hadiya
Total
Source: Own survey Addrs Ababa, 2005
2
30
6 .7
100%
3
50
6.0
100%
5
80
6.:1
100% I
IV. Educational Status
Most of the solid waste operators had gone through primary education to diploma
level (Table 10). Only 2 .7 percent of the operator s were illiterate while another 2.7
percent can only read and write. About 27 percent of the operators have attended
primary education level, and 64.8 percent have attended secondary education and
above . This shows that ;nost of the operators in solid waste collection activity are
educated p eople who are engaged in self-employmtnt. However, about 54.1 percent
of the enterprise operators were not trained in solid waste management activity.
Thus it would be necessary for government to arrange for training in solid waste
management for the activity to b e effective.

32
Table 10: Edu cat ional status of ent erprise operators by sub-cit y (N = 37)
Sub-city Total
Educational status Bole Arada

F % F 010

1 4.5 1 2 .7
Illiter a te
Ca n r ead and write 1 4.5 1 2.7
Primary education (1-8) 6 27.3 4 26 .7 10 27.0
Secondary edu cation (9 - 12) 4 18.2 4 26.7 8 21. 6
12th Comple te 6 27.3 2 13.3 8 21. 6
TVS graduate 1 4 .5 2 13 .3 3 8.1
College Diplom a 2 9.1 3 20.0 5 13 .5
Degree level 1 4.5 1 2.7
Total 22 100% 15 100% 37 100%
Source: Own survey, AddiS Ababa, 2005

Ta ble 11 s hows that a bout 45 percent of the employees are at primary school
I
level , 17.5 perce nt at secondary level and 16.3 percent are able to rea d and
write. Generally 65 . 1 p e rcent of solid waste employees in the two study areas I
we re b elow second ary education level including 3.8 percent illiterates. As
results indicated level of education is not a maj or criterion for employment in I
solid waste MSEs.
Table 11 : Employe es level of education by sub-city (n = 80)
Sub -city
Educational Backgro und Bole Arada Total
F % F %
Illitera te 1 3.3 2 4.0 3 3.8
Read and write 4 13 .3 9 18 .0 13 16.3
Primary edu cation (1 -8) 10 33 .3 26 52 .0 36 45.0
Secondary educa tion (9 - 12 ) 7 23.3 7 14 .0 14 17. 5
12 Completed 5 16 .7 4 8.0 9 11. 3
TVS Graduates 3 10.0 2 4 .0 5 6.3
Total 30 100% 50 100% 80 100%
Source: Own s urve y AddiS Ababa, 2005

As data in Table 12 s hows about 27 percent of the enterprise operators were

j obless, 24.3 perce nt operated their own e nterprise and 21.6 percent worked as
daily la borer before they involve in MSE to collect waste . At sub-city level 31.8
percent of the op erators in Bole were daily laborers, 27.3 percent were self-

33
employed and 18.2 percent jobless. In Ar ada 40 percen t were j obless, 26.7
percent were employed in governm ent institu tions a n d 20 pe rcen t were worked
on own enterprise . The results showed a lmost half of th e operators were fou nd
unemployed before t h ey star ted solid waste collection. As a result of this, the
involvement of MSEs not only p lays a significan t role for u rba n sanitation but
a lso provides j obs to the unemployed people.
Table 12: Distribution of enterprise operators by type of experience (N=
37)
Sub-city
Type o f experience Bole Arada Total
F % F %
Operate own enterprise
Student
6
2
27 .3
9 .1
3
1
20 .0
6.7
9
3
24 .3
8.1 I
Employed in Government
institutions
Jobless
3
4
13.6
18.2
4
6
26.7
40.0
7
10
18.9
27.0 I
Dailv Laborer 7 3 1. 8 1 6. 7 8 21.6
To tal 22
Source:- Own survey, Addzs Ababa, 2005
100% 15 100% 37 100 %
I
About 48.7 percent of the employees in th e study areas r espond ed th at they
I
I

had work experience before they were employed in solid waste MSEs while 47.5
percent h a d no work experience . This indicated th at 50 percent of the
I
employees were unemployed before th ey engage in solid waste MSEs. There is a
variation at the sub-city level. For instan ce, 60 percent of t h e employee in Bole
I
had work experience and 36.7 percent h ad n o work exper ience. In Arada, 54
percent of the employees had no work experience a n d 42 percent h ad wor k
experience. This shows th at most of th e em ployees in Ar a d a were unemployed
than Bole. Of the previously unemployed people 15 percent were street men,
1l.3 per cent dependent on family and stu dent each (Table 13 ). Street men were
the h ighest which is 20 percent in Arada a n d 6.7 p ercent in Bole sub-city.
Unemployment was the highest in Ar ada (77.8percent) than Bole (22.2 percent).
From the tota l employees about 42 .5 per cent stayed u n em p loyed for one to four
years , 8.8 pe rcent five to eight years and 7.5 percent nine to twelve years. At

34
the sub-city leve l, 43 .3 percent of the employees in Bole and 42 percent (21) in
Arada were unemployed from one to four years b efore t h ey engage In solid
waste MSEs . This indica tes th at the participation of private sectors in solid
was te m a n agement can create j ob opportunity a nd reduce poverty in the two
study a reas .
Table 13: Employees dependency before employment by type (n=80)
Sub-city
Type of dependency Bole Arada Total
F % F %
Dependent on Familv 2 6.7 7 14.0 9 11. 3
Stud ent
Unpaid Familv Lab orer
Living on Streets
3
-
2 6.7
10.0
-
6
3
10
12.0
6.0
20 .0
9
3
12
11. 3
3 .8
15.0
I
House Worker
Total
1
30
3.3
26.7
2
50
4.0
56.0
3
80
3 .8
45.0
I
Source : Own Survey AddIs Ababa. 2005
I
3.1.2. Business Characteristics
I. Organization of MSEs
A. Establishment
About 3 1.8 percent of the e nterprises in Bole were established in 2002/2003
a nd 27 .3 pe rcen t in 2 000 /2 001. In Arada, about 46.7 p e rcent wer e established
in 2003/2004 and 40 perce nt in 2002 /2 003 (Ta ble 14). The first solid waste
MSE which started as private enterprises in 19f1.8 /99 to do solid waste activity
was Dynamic solid waste sanita ry service in Bole s u b-city. This was supported
by th e informa nts of the Network Association of Addis Ababa City Solid Waste
Ma n agement Enterprise As the survey results indicated private enterprises
were involved in so lid waste management activities very recently. The MSEs in
Bole began earlier than Arada.

\
35
Table 14: Establishment of enterprises by year IN = 37)
Sub-City
Year of establishment Bole Arada Total
F % F 0/0

1998 /1999 1 4.5 - - 1 2.7

1999/2000 2 9.1 1 6 .7 3 8. 1
2000/2001 6 27 .3 - - 6 16.2
2001/2002 3 13.6 1 6.7 4 10.8
2002/2003 7 31.8 6 40 .0 13 35 .1
2003/2004 3 13.6 7 46.7 10 27 .0
Total 22 100%' 15 100% 37 100%
Source: Own survey, Addzs Ababa, 2005

Solid waste MSEs were interviewed about the legality or illegality of their
involveme nt in solid waste activity. Almost all (97.3 percent) of the enterprises
except one in Arada were legally registered. This survey result was inconformity
with the review of Furedy cited in Klundert and Lardinois (1995) which says
I
operating private firms and individuals are registered with officia l business
licenses . I
About 40.9 percent in Bole and 46 .7 percent in Arada have working offices,
whereas 59.1 percent in Bole and 53.3 percent in Arada have no working
offic es. About 31.8 percent of the enterprises in Bole used their own
rooms/buildings as office while 9. 1 percent rent offices from individuals (Table
15). In Arada 20 percent of the enterprises had got office from Kebele for free,
13.3 percent rented from Kebele, 6.7 percent rented from individual and only
6 .7 percent used own house/room as office. The enterprises that had no
regular office h a d used residences as office in both sub-cities. In general the
result showed that most of the enterprise operators have no fixed working office
location.

36
Table 15: Enterprises working office ownership by sub-city (N = 37)
Sub-city
Working Office Bole Arada Total
ownership F % F %
Own property 7 31.8 1 6.7 8 2 1. 6
Rented from individua ls 2 9.1 1 6.7 3 8.1
Re nted from Ke bele - - 2 13.3 2 5.4
Freely give n from ke bele - - 3 20 .0 3 8.1
No wo rking office 13 59 .1 8 53.3 21 56.8
Total 22 100% 15 100% 37 100%0
S ource: Own survey, AddIs Ababa, 2005

B. Ownership
About 56 .8 pe rcent of the enterprises 111 both sub-cities were owned by
s h a re holder s . Sha r e holder in Arada form 66 .7 percent while they form 50
pe rcent in Bole . Sole ownership at both study a reas was 29.7 perce n t. This
own e r s hip a mounted to 36.4 percent in Bole and 20 percent in Arad a (ta ble
16 ). Most of the solid wa ste e nterprises 111 the study areas are owned by
s h a re hold er s . This indicates tha t most of the solid waste operators a re
organized in to gr oup s probably to solve the problem of start-up capital.
Table 16: Enterprises organizational ownership by sub-city (N = 37)
Sub-city
Type of ownership Bole Arada Total
F % F %
Family based 2 13. 3 2 5.4
Sole own ership 8 36.4 3 20 .0 11 29 .7
Share holder s 11 50 .0 10 66.7 21 56.8
Entrepreneur with s pou se 3 13.6 3 8.1
Total 22 100% 15 100% 37 100%
Source: Own s u rvey, Add IS Ababa, 2005

Solid waste MSEs wer e a lso inte rviewed a bout their motive s to engage in solid
waste m a n age m en t a ctivity . About 40.5 percent of the interviewees were
m o tivated to be e n gaged in solid waste activity for survival purposes with a
s imila r proportion of 4 0 .9 per cent in Bole and 40 pe rcent in Ara da. The m otives
to ben efit from th e unta pped opportunity of the sect or a nd low qua li ty of th e

37
city environment together accounted for a similar proportion of 40.8 percent in
Bole and 40 percent in Arada. Most of the motives of enterprises were
consistent with the commodity- based MSEs of Haan Coad and Lardinois (19 98)
which are set up by local entrepren eurs who perceive the delivery of waste
services a s a business opportunity. Enterprises are entirely d em and -led,
seekin g to fill a gap and gen erate income.
About 67.6 percent (25) of the enterprise operators were m embers of a bus iness
association a nd 32.4 percent (12) were not. At sub-city level, 80 percent (12) of
the enterpr ises in Arada a nd 59 .1 percent (13) in Bole were member of Network
Association of Addis Ababa city solid waste m a nagem ent Enterprise. Most of
the enterprises in Arada were organized in associations. But 40.9 perce n t in
Bole a nd 20 percent in Arada were not a membe r of a business association. The
r esult was pa rtly consistent with Haa n, Coa d and Lardinois (1998) who
indicated self-employed waste workers are often motivated to join together in
order to protect out side threats from government or "middlemen" dealer s. The
organization partly benefited th e MSEs in dealing with the government for
training, service charge fluctuation s a nd negotia tion with local administrations
when conflicts arise due to compe tition.
II. Heads of Enterprises
Solid waste MSEs in the two study areas were run by different people. The
result indicate about 45.9 pe rcen t of the enterprises were run by committees,
24 percent by husbands and 16.2 percent by friendship groups (Table 17).
About 66.7 percent of the enterprises in Arada and 31.8 percent in Bole were
run by committees. About 20 p ercent in Arada a nd 27.3 p e rcent in Bole were
run by husbands . As the survey results showed 40.9 percent of the enterprises
in Bole a n d 26.7 percent in Arada were managed by wives a nd husbands. This
finding is partly con sistent with the literature reviewed by Ali, et al. (1998) that
th e service p rovider m ay take the triple role of la borer, manager a nd owner of
th e enterprise . This shows more over-dependency of the whole activity of the
enterprise o n the individual. This implies that the progress or decline of the
e n terprise growth depends on the individual since n ew business ideas and
38
Enterprises were also interviewed whether there a re particular tools they n eed but
do not h ave at hand . About 100 percent (15) of the enterprises in Ara d a and 95 .5
percent (2 1) in Bole responded that they n eed particular tools but did not h ave at
th e tim e of the study . Enterprises in both study areas like to have waste
transporting and disposal vehicles, temporary waste storage containers and
pushcarts. In addition to these, enterprises in Arada like to have machinery for
compost preparation a nd space for operation. As the study results indicated ,
shortage of working tools particularly pushcarts are the major constraint for the
proper m anagement of solid waste collection. Government and NGOs n eed to
support MSEs alon g this line . Recycling and compost preparation are constrained
by shortage of m achinery and problem of land provision.
III. Solid Waste Handling
A. Storage Bins and Frequency of Collection
About 73 percent of th e enterprises had given bins to their customers to store
the garbage until th e enterprise collects. About 27 percent use clients own bins
as storage. In terms of s ub -city, 100 percent of the enterprises in Bole and 33.3
percent in Arada had distributed bins to their customers (Ta ble 26) . Individual
household wastes a re put a long side of the fen ces until collection. Most of the
bins a re plastic bags. This indicates that those enterprises found in Arada h ave
little capacity to distribute bins. This is probably due to users' lower payment of
the service fee for e n terprises in Ara da than Bole.
Table 26 : Ownership of garbage storage by sub-city IN = 37)
Sub-city
Ownership of garbage bins Bole Arada Total
F % F %
Clie nts own bins 10 66 .7 10 27.0
Bins given by ente rpri se 22 100% 5 33.3 27 73.0
Total 22 100% 15 100% 37 100%
Source: Own Survey, Addis Ababa, 2005
Wastes from clients are coll ected twice in a week by 43.2 percent while it is
collected once or twice in a month by 16 .2 percent. Table 27 shows the collection of
waste twice a week is a common practice. For instance, 50 percent of th e
enterprises in Bole and 33.3 percent in Arada collect twice a week from their

50
clients . Accordin g to responden ts, wastes m ostly collected on daily basis or every
three d ays come fro m hotels and fru its and vegetable sh ops. The h igh frequen cy of
waste collection was observed in Arad a prob a bly due to the presence of more h otels
a n d fruit and vege ta ble s hops in th e locality.
Table 27: Frequency of waste collection from clients by sub-city IN= 37)
Sub-city
Period of waste collection Bole Arada Total
F % F %
Daily 1 4 .5 2 13 .3 3 8 .1
Tw ice in a wee k 11 50.0 5 33 .3 16 4 3.2
Once in a week 4 18 .2 - - 4 10.8
Thr ee time s in a wee k 1 4 .5 2 13.3 3 8.1
Daily a nd tw ice in a week 4 18.2 2 13.3 6 16 .2
Daily a nd once in a week 1 4.5 1 6 .7 2 5 .4
Based on the freque n cy of waste - - 3 2 0 .0 3 8 .1
ge n er ation
Total 22 100% 15 100% 37 100%
Source: Own su r vey, Addis Ababa, 2005

B. Waste Storage by Enterprises

About 64. 9 p ercen t of the enterprises in both sub-cities used m unicipal containers
for tempor a rily dumpin g of the collected garbage u ntil disposal. Twenty four
percen t load directly on to municipal vehicle a t commu n al stations . Ta b le 28
s h owed municipal conta in er s was h ighly u sed by 8 1. 8 p ercent of th e MSEs in Bole
a nd 4 6 .7 p erce n t in Ara d a . About 40 p ercent of MSEs in Arad a u s e mu n icipal
vehicle to dispose directly. It was on e enterprise in Bole th at u sed own container
for h andling and dis posing d irectly into Reppi the waste disposal center.
Table 28: Type waste handling by enterprises (N=37)
Sub-city
Type of waste handling Bole Arada Total
F % F %
Municipal contain er 18 8 1. 8 7 4 6 .7 25 67 .6
Disposed by en terprise own vehicle 1 4 .5 1 2.7
Disposed by municipal vehicle 3 13 .6 6 40.0 9 24 .3
Mu nicipal contain er + by mu nicipal 2 13.3 2 5.4
vehicle
Total 22 100% 15 100% 37 100%
Sou rce: Own survey, Addts Ababa, 2 005

51
Enterprises operators were also interviewed about where they store the collected
waste if municipal containers are full or not emptied in time. About 56 .S percent of
the enterprises in both sub-cities said they wait until the municipal truck comes
and 27 percent said they burn the waste. At sub-city level, 77.3 percent of the
enterprises in Arada and 45.5 percent in Bole said they wait until the municipal
truck comes. About 40.9 percent of the enterprises in Bole and 6.7 percent in
Arada burn the waste (Table 29). However, enterprises said that even if they
properly store the collected waste, wastes are found scattered out of the municipal
container in the nearby areas and pollute the surrounding. This is partly due to
the under capacity of municipal transport system and the lack of controlling
system. This implies a need for sub-city or mun;cipal supervision at the various
transfer stations or temporary dumping sites. Otherwise residences living in the
nearby areas could be exposed for health related diseases.

Picture 1: Temporary storage of enterprises

.--.-

Source: Field Survey, Addis Ababa, 2005

52
Table 29: Enterprise temporary storage by sub-city (N = 37)
Temporary Storage Sub-City
Bole Arada Total
F % F %
Will wait until municip al truck comes 10 45.5 11 73.3 21 56.8
Dispose it near fu ll containers - - - - - -
Burrv it under the Holes - - - - - -
Store it with own temporarv handling 3 13 .6 3 20 .0 6 16.2
Burn it 9 40 .9 1 6.7 10 27.0
Total 22 100% 15 100% 37 100%
Source: Own survey, Add,s Ababa, 2005

B. 1. Transportation Systems
[t was indicated earlier th at about 97.3 percent of th e enterprises in the study
areas collect wastes through door to door collection system and m ove it to th e
municipal transfer points and m u nicipal loading trucks u s ing own pushcarts. Only
two enterprises on e in Bole and th e oth er in Ara d a use their own and rented
vehicles (Table 30) for door to door waste collection up to the municipal transfer
points. The survey result is consistent with th e observation of Haan, Coad and
Lardinois who mentioned that MSEs often u se low-cost and la b or intensive
equipment and mach inery such as handcarts or donkey carts bu t only very few
used trucks.
Table 30: Type of waste t r anspor tation by ownership IN = 37)
Sub-City
Type of Transportation
Bole Arada Total
F % F %
Own vehicles - - - - -

Own pushcarts 21 9 5 .5 15 100.0 36 97 .3

Rented pus h cart s - - - - - -

Re nted vehicles - - - - - -
Own + Rented vehicles 1 4 .5 - - 1 2.7
Total 22 100% 15 100% 37 100%
Source: Own survey, Add,s Ababa, 2005

53
plans are dominated by him/her. This is mainly observed in Bole sub-city than
Arada.
Table 17: Head of enterprises by type IN = 37)
Sub-citv
Head of enterprise Bole Arada Total
F % F %
Wives and husbands 3 13.6 1 6.7 4 10.8
Husband 6 27 .3 3 20.0 9 24.3
Son or Daughter - - - - - -
By Committees 7 31.8 10 66.7 17 45.9
Emp loyed professional 1 4.5 - - 1 2.7
Wife - - - - - -
Friendship 5 22.7 1 6.7 6 16.2
Total 22 100% 15 100% 37 100%
Source: Own survey, Addls Ababa, 2005
III. Start up Capital, Source and Income of Enterprise
In terms of the amount of start-up capital, most of the enterprises have low
start-up capital. In the study areas, about 45.9 percent of the enterprises began
solid waste management activity with the initial capital of 1001 to 3000 Birr.
These MSEs with similar amount of initial capital in Bole form 54.5 percent and
33 .3 percent in Arada. Nearly nineteen percent of the enterprises had an initial
capital of 200 to 1000 Birr. This accounted for1 8 .2 percent of the enterprises
for Bole and 20 percent for Arada. Twenty percent of the enterprises in Arada
had no initial capital. Only two enterprises one in Bole and the other in Arada
had a start-up capital of 110,000 and 25,000 Birr respectively (Table 18) .
Generally most of the solid waste enterprises in the study areas have low start-
up capital. This is one of the main barriers for business entry.

39
Table 18 : Enterprises start- up capital by sub-city (N = 37)
Amount of Start Sub-City
up Capital Bole Arada Total
F % F %
Below 200 3 20.0 3 8.1
200-1000 4 18.2 3 20.0 7 18.9
1001 -2000 9 40 .9 3 20. 0 12 32.4
2001 -3000 3 13.6 2 13.3 5 13.5
3001-4000 2 9. 1 1 6.7 3 8.1
4001 -5000 1 4.5 1 6.7 2 5.4
5001 -6000 1 4.5 1 2.7
> 6000 1 4.5 1 6.7 2 5.4
No respon se 1 4 .5 1 6.7 2 5.4
Total 22 100% 15 100% 37 10 0%
Source: Own survey, AddIS Ababa, 2005

Own savmg was th e mam source of capita l for about 51.4 percent of the
enterprises . Own savings accounted for 59.1 pe rcent in Bole and 40 p ercent in
Ara d a. Borrowings fr.J m friends/relatives and loan from micro finan ce
institutions accounted for 13.5 percent eacn. Loa n from micro finan ce
institutions a lone accounts for 18.2 percent in Bole and borrowings from
frie nds a nd rela tives togethe r a ccounted for 2 0 p ercent in Ara d a . About 20
p e rcent of the e nterprises in Arada sub-city h ad a start-up capita l of below 200
Birr a nd began solid waste collec tion by giving free cleaning service . However,
there was no enterprise in Bole with out start-up capital (Table 19) . This
indicates enterprises in Bole used own start-up capital and obtained loa n from
micro finance institutions than Arada because of their b etter economic
background .
The resul t was consi stent with the observation of Fasika and Daniel (1 997) a nd
Haan, Coa d a nd Lavdinois (1998) who mentioned that the importa nt source of
s ta rt-up capita l op e n to mic ro and small e nterprises in developing countries are
own savings and borrowings from friends and relatives.

40
 Table 19: Enterprises start up capital by source (N=37)
Sub-city
Source of Start-up capital Bole Arada Total
F % F %
Own savings 13 59 .1 6 40.0 19 51.4
Given from friend s and rela tives - - 1 6 .7 1 2 .7
Borrowed from friends and relative 2 9. 1 3 20 .0 5 13.5
Bank loan - - - - - -
Loon from micro finance institutions 4 18.2 1 6.7 5 13.5
With j ointpartn er ship 1 4 .5 - - 1 2 .7
Own gift from frie nd s a nd relatives 1 - 1 6 .7 1 2 .7
Gift from friend s and relatives +
partner ship 1 4.5 - - 1 2 .7
Without initial capital - - 3 20.0 3 8.1
Total 22 100% 15 100% 37 100%
Source: Own s urve y, AddIs Ababa, 2005

A sign ificant portion, 63.6 percent in Bole and 60 percent in Ara d a were not
interested to indicate their monthly income. Tl-tis is due to poor accounting
system a nd fe a r of tax payments. Those enterprises which r evealed their
monthly inco m e and expenditure seem to re port incorrectly . For instan ce,
Dyn a mic solid waste sanitary service r eported a monthly incom e of 3 1-32, 000
Birr and an expe nditure of 30,000 Birr. Thus its net profit was only 1000-2000
Birr pe r month. The result fits with the r emarks of Scheinberg, et a l. (2000)
who said MSEs h ave poor ability to a n a lyze own cost factors a nd performance
partly due to th e e ntanglement of persona l, social and economic functions .
IV. Employment in Waste Management Enterprises
The study found that about 73 .5 perce nt (252) of the employees in Bole were
permanent worker s a nd 26 .5 percent (91) were causal employees during th e
s urvey pe riod. In Arada a bout 96 .9 pe rcent (484) of the employees were
permanent a nd 3 pe rcent (15) were causal employees.
The gen der d istribution of employment shows that during the begin ning of
waste m a n agem e n t a bout 79 . 1 percent of the employees in Bole and 39.5
percent in Arada were male employees (Ta ble 20). Fema le employees
co n stituted 20 .9 percent in Bole a nd 60 .5 percent in Arada. During the survey

41
period male employees constituted 83.1 percent in Bole and 38.5 percent in
Arada. Female employees were 16.9 percent in Bole and 6l.5 percent in Arada.
So there is a great variation in employment in the two sub-cities in term s of
sex. Female employees were the highest in Arada sub-city in both pe riod s but
low in Bole sub-city . However, respondents said there was no gender bias in
enterprises employment.

Respondents h ad given different reasons for the variation in number of female

and male employees in the two sub cities. In Bole , respondents mentioned that
female job seekers were not registered for recruitment in solid waste activities.
In Arada more women were organized in associations to do solid waste
activities. In additio n to this, street children and women who were previous I
commercial sex workers were involved in solid waste management in Arada
sub-city. This m ay be due to high poverty in this sUb-city.
I
All 100 percent (37) of the respondents agreed on the positive role of MSE to the
creation of job opportunity for the unemployed people . For example,
employment jumped from 344 at the initial period to 842 at the time of the
survey (Ta ble 20) In addition to the creation of job opportunity, all respondenl::;
in bo th study areas appreciated the role of solid waste management in reducing
poverty in the sub-cities. They said unemployment is reduced because a
s ignificant number of street people, some commercial sex workers especially in I
Arada and other unemployed people are now employed in MSEs.
The findin g is consistent with the observation of Haan, Coad and Lardinois who
said tha t MSEs are by far more important as a source of jobs than the modern
I
indus trial sector and the government services combined as it has relatively high
potentia l for growth in employm e nt.

42
 Table 20: Enterprise initial and current total employees by sex and sub-
city IN = 371
Number of Employees
Sub- Initial period Survey Period
City
Male Female Total Male Female Total
Bole 102 79 .1 27 20 .9 129 100% 285 83.1 58 16 .9 343 100%
Arada 85 39.5 130 60. 5 215 100% 192 38.5 307 61.5 499 100%
Total 187 54.4 157 45.6 344 100% 477 56.7 365 43.3 842 100%
Source: Own s urvey, Add!s Ababa, 2 005

3.2. The Nature and Operation of Solid Waste Service

3.2.1. The Nature of Solid Waste Service
1. Nature and Service Type
I
The solid was te se rvice is a ri sky venture in terms of m a rket and health . Some I
of the MSEs a re found at risk in getting clients due to competition . According to
th e obse rvation of Burns (1996) MSEs are likely to face s ignificant competition
wh ich makes the ris k of fa ilure high. Solid waste service is a lso a risky activity
I
in terms of health becau se of low use of hea lth protective materials like gown, I
gloves, mas k s 8nd boots. For instance, it is 66 .7 percent of the enterprises in
Arada and only 9 . 1 percent in Bole who distributed gown for their employees . In I
a ddition , 93 .3 p ercent of the enterprises in Arad a a nd only 9.1 pe rcent in Bole
h ad distribu ted gloves to th eir employee s. Oth e r hea lt h protective m a te ria ls like I
mask a nd boo ts a r e n ot provided in both study a reas. Gene r a lly MSEs in Arada
have shown a highe r usage of gloves and gown than Bole. This shows the
h ealth of MSEs employees a re found to be at high risk and th e r e is a need for
partial governmen t in tervention a nd follow up of MSEs in workers h ealth
aspec ts.
The line of work for MS E shows that there is a high level of concentration on
transporting ac tivity . Table 2 1 shows that about 75.7 percent of the enterprises
in the stu dy areas fo cu s on transpor ting wastes. About 81.8 pe rcen t in Bole
a nd 66 .7 pe rcen t ll1. Arada r eported transporting is their main activity.
Transporting of was te mainly r efers picking waste from houses a nd moving

43
 them to the municipal conta in er or transfer stations . A study in some Latin
Ame rican cou ntries s h owed that waste collection is the main activity of MSEs .
Transporting of the collected waste up to t h e disposa l site was practiced only by
a few MSEs like Dynamic solid waste sanitary service. About 33 .4 percent of
the enterprises in Arada and 18. 2 pe rcen t in Bole make compost a nd recycl ing
in addition to waste collec tion. As the area demands some capital it is
n ecessary to en cou rage able to expand their activity.
Table 21: Enterprise lines of work in waste collection by sub-city (N=37)
Lines of work in waste collection Sub-city
Bole Arada Total
F % F %
TransDortin!l 18 8 1.8 10 66.7 28 75.7
Processing / compost - - 2 13.3 2 5.4
Recycling
Tra nsDorting and Recycling
-
-
-
-
1
1
6 .7
6 .7
1
1
2.7
2.7 I
Tra nsDorting + comDost + Recycling
Trans Dorting a nd compost
Total 22
2
2
100%
9. 1
9 .1 -
1

15
6.7
-
100%
3
2
37
8.1
5.4
100%
I
Source: Own su rvey, Add!s Ababa, 2005
I
As far as the to tal amount of solid waste collection pe r day , month a nd year is
con ce rned about 91.9 pe rcent of th e enterprises responded no r ecords. As I
re sults indicated it was only 8 percent of the enterprises that properly
docume nte d t h e collected waste . The main reason given by MSEs for the poo r
I
d ocume nta tion was due to the difficulty to measure the amount of waste 111

units. Others have no written records and still others m e ntioned lac k of
experien ce in accounting sys tem.
11. Service Users / Clients
Th e three s ervice use r s of MSEs are households, private and government
insti tution s . Households a r e the m ajor service users of MSEs in both study
a reas . As data in ta b le 22 indic ated that a bout 70.3 p e rcent of the enterpri ses
in the s tudy a r eas served a ll segments of th e community and 18.9 percent of
the enterprises se rved middle a nd high- income groups. Enterprises that serve
a ll u sers wer e 80 pe rcent in Arada and 63 .6 p er cent in Bole . In Bole 36.4

44
percent of th e enterprises served the middle and high-income groups of th e
population but in Arada 13.4 percent of the ente rprises served t his group . Th is
variation in the two areas is due to more low income groups in Arada than Bole.
In both study areas ente rprises were not observed serving only the high income
groups. This is a result of the m ixed nature of t h e reside ntia l a reas in the study
areas.
The service is given to t'Ie segment of the community who can a fford t h e service
char ge. Ali, Cotton and Beall (1998) m e ntiOl.ed that service provider s are
profit- motivated and as a result non-payers a r e excluded .
Table 22: Service recipient by sub-city (N = 37)
Type of service recipient Sub-city
Total
Bole Arada
F % F %
Lower inco m e group 1 6.7 1 2.7
Middle-income group 2 9 .1 1 6 .7 3 8.1
High- income group
Middle and high income groups 6 27.3 1 6 .7 7 18.9
All segments of the community 14 63.6 12 80 .0 26 70.3
Total 22 100% 15 100% 37 100%
Sou rce: Own survey, Addis Ababa, 2005

About 83 .8 percent of th e enterprises used own effort to attract their clients.

They distribute pamphlets; give plastic bins fre ely for storage, clean the
surroundings and drainages for free and provide door to door education about
environmenta l sanitation as a strategy in both sub-cities. As the results
ind icated this method was used by 77 .3 p e rcent of th e enterprises in Bole and
93.3 percent in Arada at th e sub-city level.

Enterprises were asked the total number of their clients . At the beginning of
solid waste management activities MSEs in Bole had 1034 clients. Of these,
household s accounted for 98 .6 pe rcent (1020) of the customers and private
institutions accounted for 1.4 percent. The shar e of government institutions as
a clien t was very few. It forme d only 0 . 1 percent. In Arada sub-city households

45
 constituted the highest s h are too . For instance, from the total (1328) clients,
households accounted for 95 .9 p er cent (1273) and private institutions
accounted for 4.1 p ercent while governme nt ins titutions did not form a client

During the survey p eriod (currently) the total number of customers in Bole was
,
7540 and 6463 in Arada. The shar e of households both in Bole a nd Ara da sub-
cities were s till the highes t . For instan ce, house holds in Bole accounts for
a bout 98 .5 percent (74 29) of the clients a nd private institutions about 1.4
percent a nd still the share of governme nt institution is negligible i.e . 0.1
percent of th e clients. In Arada, households were about 97.8 p e rce nt (6324),
private and government fo rmed 2.1 p e rcent a nd 0.02 pe rcent r espectively.

Regardin g individual en terprise , there is a variation in the number of clients.

For instance, in Bole th er e was a big gap between the minimum and m aximum
enterprise clie n ts during the initia l and survey p eriod. During the initia l period
of solid waste collection, the number of clie nts ranged from 3 to 300 a nd during
th e s urvey p e riod th e number of clients rose from 20 to 1250. In Arada the
numbe r of clients during the initial a nd survey p eriod were 15 to 300 and 40 to
1000 respectively (Table 23, Appendix B). Ente rprises in the study a r eas h ave
least number of private and government institutions' clients . This is probably
due to the low capacity of the MSEs to dispos e institutional wastes using
vehicles. Beca use ins titution a l wastes are dumped in the conta iners a lready set
by the municipality . Thus most of th e institutions are the clients of the
municipa lity . Th is is contrary to the policy of Addis Ababa City Adminis tration
(2003) which a llows th e private sector to cover institutional wastes collection
a nd disposa l.
About 45.9 percent of th e e nterprise operator in the study areas responded th at
th e number of the ir clients was increasing. Nearly n in e teen p er cent said it was
highly inc r easin g (Ta ble 24). At the sub-city level, there is a variation in this
r egard . For instance, abou t 27 .3 p erce nt of the operators in Bole and 6 .7
pe rcent in Arada said th eir clients a re highly increasing. This is because of good
46
 3.2.2. The Operation of Solid Waste Service
I. Types of Waste Collected by the Enterprise
Inte rview results showed that different types of wastes a r e generated by
households, gove rnment and private institution1' . In both sub-cities, eight types
of wastes we re commonly collec ted by enterprises:
These include:
l. Left-over and spoiled food , vegetables and fruits, 2. Paper,
3. Grass clippings an d bones, 4. Ash or sand 5. Textiles,
6 . Plastics a nd Rubbe r , 7 . Glass, bottles and ceramics, and
8. Me tals. I
In terms of s ub- city, different typ es of wastes are produced. For instance, in
Bole food, vegeta ble s and frui ts; paper; grass clippings a nd bones, a nd Ash or I
sand were th e main wastes generated. In Ara da , except Ash or sand which was
least produced, the rest mentioned a bove were highly produced.

Res ponde nts were also asked which waste types were mostly probably
II
produced by customers. They responded that food, vegetables and fruits were
the m ajor wastes frequently produced followed by paper and grass clippings in I
both sub-cities. Thus wastes genera ted from household activities are more
dominant. The result fits with the con cepts of Rand, et a l ((2000) Append A)
who mentioned that in low incom e countries domestic waste is domina ted by
food was te a nd food markets may contribute a larger proportion of the
commer cial was te. The coffee ceremony in the study a reas may contribute for
th e gen eration of high grass clippings . In addition to this, enterprise s were
in terviewed wh eth er there a r e wastes which are not collected by them. It was
ind icated that industri a l, h ospital a nd liquid wastes were not collected in bo th
study areas by en te rpri ses. This is because h ospita l a nd industrial wastes
(based on the typ e of industry) a re infectious and h azardous wastes which n eed
special treatment.

48
 II. Types of Waste Management Tools
The com monly used working tools were pushcarts, shovel (spade) , fork , glove, hoe,
gown, broom and rake. Pushcarts, shovel and fork were the most widely used tools
in both study areas. Glove, hoe, gown and broom were highly used in enterprises
in Arada a nd least used in Bole. One enterprise in Bole and another one in Arada
used vehicle for waste collection. Using vehicle by MSEs was not common .

As the SBPDA operation department illustrates, almost all of the MSEs used local
tools for solid waste management activities. Pushcarts were the main working tools
for primary collection from sources to municipal transfer stations . In waste
collection, both big and small pushcarts were used in both sub- cities. Large
pushcarts were used to accumulate huge amount of waste and they demand large
labor. This enables to absorb la rge la bor force. The ownership of pushcarts varied
in the study areas. For instance, 43 .2 percent of the enterprises h ad two to five
pushcarts and 29 .7 percent had six to ten pushcarts in both sub-cities.

At the sub-city level, about 60 percent of the enterprises in Arada h ad more than
six pushcarts and :>4.:> percent of the enterprises in Bole h a d two to five pushcarts.
One enterprise had 8 1 pushcarts (Table 25) .

The use of local pushcarts, have different advantages. I t reduces imports of

pushcarts and saves fore ign exchange earnings. It also encourages local metal
works and creates linkage between solid waste MSEs and local metal works.
Table 25: Enterprises by number of pushcarts owned in sub cities (N = 37)
Number of Sub-city
pushcarts Bole Arada Total
F % F %
1 3 4.5 2 13.3 5 13.5
2-5 12 54.5 4 26.7 16 43.2
6-10 6 27 .3 5 33.3 11 29 .7
> 10 - - 4 26 .7 4 10.8
No resp o nse 1 4.5 - - 1 2 .7
Total 22 100% 15 100% 37 100%
Source: Owen survey, AddIS Ababa, 2005

49
 Picture 2: MSEs door-to-door collection by push carts

Source: Field Survey, Addis Ababa, 2005

B.2. Dumping
About 89 .1 percent of the enterprises in the study sub-cities dump the collected
waste at the municipa l transfer points, and load directly in to the municipal
truck (Table 31). At the sub-city level, 63.6 percent of the enterprises in Bole
used to transport up to the municipal transfer points. In Arada on the other
h a nd , a bout 53.3 percent of the enterprises loading the collected waste at the
municipal truck directly and about 40 percent of the enterprises use both the
municipal transfer points and directly load on the municipal trucks. This
difference in temporary dumping is probably caused by the availability of space
for temporary storage in Bole and scarcity of space in Arada. But 18.1 percent
of the enterprises in Bole transport the collected waste up to the Reppi
dumpsite. The result shows that private MSEs least participated in final waste
di s posa l activity in the study areas . Still government plays a dominant role in
final waste disposal. This fits with the experiences of MSEs in some Latin
American countries as Arroyo (1998) cited in Haan, et a l (1998).

54
Table 31: Enterprise solid waste dumping site by sub-city IN = 37)
Sub-city
Waste dumping site Bole Arada Total
F % F %
At municipal transfer points 14 63.6 1 6.7 15 40.5
At final dumpsite (Reppi)* 3 13.6 - - 3 8.1
At the municipal truck 2 9.1 8 53.3 10 27.0
At municipal tran sfer points + 1 4.5 - - 1 2 .7
final dumpsite
At municipal transfer points + 2 9.1 6 40 .0 8 21.6
municipal truck
Total 22 100% 15 100% 37 100%
Source: Own su rvey, AddIs Ababa, 2005
,. Using rented vehicles

B.3. Sorting
The survey showed that currently usable materials were little separated. About
26.7 percent of the enterprises in Arada and 9 .1 percent in Bole sort usable
materials from its source. This means about 90.9 percent in Bole a nd 73.3
percent of th e enterprises in Arada disposed the> collected waste into the waste
stream without separation .
About 33.3 percent of the enterprises in Arada a nd 9.1 percent in Bole used to
separate compostable goods. But large amounts of the waste were added to the
waste str eam as it is. Thus, recyclable and compos table materials were least
separated . Thus MSEs in the study areas are not privileged from sorting of
usable waste materials.
Respondents were also asked about what the enterprises do with the separated
materials. Table 32 showed that 18.9 percent of th e e nterprises made compost
in both s ub-cities. On the other hand some enterprises in Bole (13.6 percent)
sale the r ecyclable materials to other recyclers and one enterprise used to
generate biogas in Bole. However the solid waste policy of Addis Ababa City
Adminis tration encourages the private sectors to involve in a ll areas of activity,
it is late ly in practicing it. Enterprises are not adequately encouraged in loans ,
land provision and training. That is why very few enterprises (32.2 p ercent) only
e ngaged in waste collection, compost processing, recycling, gener ating biogas

55
/'
an d selling of r aw m ate rial s at the same time. These are the m ajor options for
the growth a nd expa nsion of entrepreneurship in the study a r eas. The
experience of Latin American countries indicates this reality. However the a r ea
has high p otential for the growth of e ntre pren eurs, still it is least exploited in
the study a reas due to capital constra ints, prohlem of land provision and low
skill in the activity. However beginnings are encour aging. For example,
Dynamic Sanitary Service in Bole sub- city is participating in both collection
and fi nal disposal u sing 4 vehicles .
Table 32: Use of enterprises separated material by sub-city (N= 37)
Sub-city
Use of separated material Bole Arada Total
F % F %
Make compost by enterprise 2 9.1 5 33 .3 7 lS. 9
Reuse it as a raw material by - - 1 6 .7 1 2.7
enterprise
Sale to oth er recyclers 3 13.6 - - 3 S. l
Generate biogas 1 4.5 - - 1 2.7
Total 22 27.2% 15 40.0% 37 32.4%
Source: Own survey, Addzs Ababa, 2005

Respondents were interviewed whether enterprises involvement contribu te to

minimize solid was te m a n agement problems or not. Da ta in table 33 shows that
about 67.6 percent of the enterprises in the study areas said that primary solid
waste collection proble m is reduced very highly . It wa s a lso agr eed by 73.3
percent of the enterprises in Ara da and 63.6 percent in Bole. According to
SBPDA, MSEs in general covered most of th e h ouse to house collection and
contri buted 4-5 percent of the solid waste m a nageme nt services of the city.
Currently the municipality has stopped door to door collection and instead
places containers at som e cen tral places for those who do not contract with
MSEs. About 27 percent of the e nterprises in the study areas with a slight
variation at the SUb-city level responded that their contribution is modest in
minimizing solid waste management problems. This is because there a re
h ouse holds wh o a re exclud ed from the s ervice due to their inability to p ay th e
service ch arge . Alth ough waste is collected h ouse to house by MSEs, the
collec ted wastes we r e no picked timely by the municipa lity.
56
./
Table 33: Attitudes of MSEs how their involvement contribute to minimize
solid waste management problems bv sub-city n=37)
MSEs Attitude Sub-Citv
Total
F % F %
High 14 63.6 11 73.3 25 67.6
Medium 6 27 .3 4 26.7 10 27.0
Low 1 4.5 1 2.7
Very low 1 1.5 1 2.7
Total 22 100% 15 100% 37 100%
Sou rce: Own survey, AddIS Ababa, 2005
3.2.3. Current Status of the Business Activity

Although, a lot of problems hinder the growth of the enterprise, about 48 .6 percent
of the enterprises in the study areas responded that solid waste management
activity is progressing while it is only 18.9 percent of the enterprises who said it is
declining. Bu t there is a variation in terms of sub-city. About 66.7 percent of the
enterprises in Arada and 36.4 percent in Bole express their business activity to be
progressing. About 27 .3 percent of the enterprises in Bole exceptionally express
their enterpri ses were stron gly progressing. This exceptional high progress in Bole
is due to the participation of the MSEs in the high and middle income areas than
Arada. In addition to this, a bout 20 percent of the enterprises in Ara d a and 18.2
perce nt in Bole responded their solid waste activity was declining and 13.3 percent
of the enterprises in Arada strongly declining. Those who said declining have lost
their cu stomers due to competition (Table 34). Out of these alternatives, about 18.2
perce nt of the enterprises in Bole responded that their business activity did not
s h ow improvement.

57
Table 34: Enterprise s current general standard of the business by Sub-c ity
IN = 37)
Standard of the business Sub-city
Bole Arada Total
F % F %
Strongly progressing 6 27.3 6 16.2
Progre ssing 8 36.4 10 66 .7 18 48.6
Strongly Declining 2 13 .3 2 5.4
Declining 4 18.2 3 20.0 7 18.9
No change 4 18.2 4 10.8
Total 22 100% 15 100% 37 100%
Source: Own Survey, AddIS Ababa, 2005
3.2.4. Future Plan of the Enterprise

Enterprises were also interviewed what in tend to do in the fu ture. About 35.1
percent of the enterprises in the study areas responded th at th ey intend to expand
the existing business and 27.6 percent of the enterprises planned to start extra
business in the future. In terms of su b-city there is a variation in fu ture business
planning . For instance, about 40.9 percen t of the enterprises in Bole and 26.7
percent in Arada intend to expand the existing business (solid waste activity).
In general as the results in table 3 5 showed about 72.7 percent of th e enterprises
in Bole and 66.7 p ercent in Arada planned to expand the existing solid waste
activity and s tart extra business in the future. This indicates that the large number
of enterprises in the study a reas became profitable in solid waste management
activities . Therefore, the results were consistent with th e literature of Haan, Coad
a nd Lardinois (1 998) who mentioned that micro and small en terprises is not a
surviva l a ctivity but the owners of the firms are seeking to expand and develop
their op eration s and their business have a definite potential for growth and
development.
Enterprises intended to expand the existing business activity were also expressed
their interest to separate u seful waste materials and recycle by themselves to make
comp ost for urban agriculture and for beautifying city parks and to generate
biogas.

58
 In addition to this enterprises in Arada were intended to create more employment
opportunity for street children and comm er cial sex workers, to build moveable
latrine and shower houses by expanding the existing activities into different
kebeles . This special interest for enterprises in Ara da is probably due to th e h igh
unemploym e nt condition of the sub-city which most probably the area exposed for
the mentioned problems.
Table 35: Enterprises future plan by sub-city IN = 37)
Sub- Enterprises Future Plan
Expand the Continue the Change a Start extra
City exis ting existing business business 1+4 1+2 + 4 Total
business business activity 4
I 2 3
Bole 9 40.9 3 13.6 1 4 .5 7 31.8 22 90.9
Arada 4 26.7 1 6.7 1 6. 7 5 33.3 1 6.7 15 80.0
Tota l 13 35.1 4 10.8 1 2 .7 8 21.6 5 13.5 1 2 .7 37 86 .5
Source: Own survey, AddIS Ababa, 2005

3 .3. Method of Involvement in Solid Waste Activity

The lite ra ture indicates that private sector can involve or par ticipate 111 solid
waste m a nagement th rough four methods. These include ope n competition,
zoning , contracting and concession.
3 .3 . 1. Open-Competition
In this m ethod the government free ly a llows qU:J.lified private firms to compete
for refuse collection, recycling compo sting or d isp osal service without zonal
m onopoly. The role of government h ere is to license, m on itor a n d as needed
sanction private fir m s wh ere pr oblems arise in service provision (Cointreau,
1994). The data s h owed that about 48.6 per cen t of the e nte rprises in the study
a r eas participate through the method of open-comp etition . At th e s u b-city level,
50 percent of the enterprises in Bole and 46.7 percen t in Arada participate in
this m ethod. The meth od h as varied advantages like low cost of service charge
to customers, quality of solid waste collection services, higher service ethics
a ttract new clients and provides a room for pr ivate contracts with households
a nd establis hments. But, confl icts anse amon g enterprises working at a

59
/'
p a rticular location due to competition for customers . This is because of a large
numbers of solid wast e MSEs who participate within the same zone. This
implies the stronger firms are able to proceed to higher levels and the weaker
ones m ay die -out from the business activity. This is the disadvantage of this
m ethod.
Currently open-competition IS supported by the municipal solid waste policy.
This m ethod reduces government's monopoly in solid waste activity and
facilitates free market economy. However the method is more preferable for
private sector participa tion, the new guideline of zonal monopoly planned by
SBPDA may weaken it.
3.3.2. Zoning
In zoning, the government gIves a finite-term of zonal monopoly to a priva te
firm for the delivery of solid waste collection service. The private firm provides a
performance bo nd with the government and pays a license fee to cover the
governme nt's costs of monitoring. But the private firm recovers its cost and
makes profit through direct charges to the households and establishments that
are served.

However interviewees revealed that about 48.6 percent of the enterprises in

both study areas a r e involved in zonal monopoly, there IS no official
a rrangement of zonal monopoly made by the government. Some enterprises
participate implicitly within a particular area in zonal monopoly. But, this doe s
no t mean that the a rea is completely closed for competition. Until now there is
n o legal provision th at r estricts the policy of open-competition in the study
areas.
At the s ub-city leve l, about 46.7 percent of the enterprises in Arada and 45. 5
percen t in Bole are invo lved in zonal monopoly. The prese nce of zonal monopoly
implies the r estriction of open-competition which in turn increases the service
charge and reduce s the quality of service. These are the disadvantages of this
method. The advantage of zonal monopoly is that it prevents conflicts when it

60
/

/
a nses due to competition for customers among enterprises. Sanitation,
Beautification and Parks Development Agency (SBPDA) had planned and
prepared a guideline of zonal a rrangement for private sector participation in
solid waste m a n agement. This is mainly intended to prevent conflicts among
e nterprises d u e to competition for customers and to open more employment
opportunities for unemployed. But, this arrangement is opposed by the Network
Association of Addis Ababa city solid waste management Enterprise as it said
the n ew guideline is contrary to the solid waste policy of open competition .
Because the n ew guide line obliges formerly established enterprises to quit 50
percent of their customers to the newly establi&hing enterprises. Although the
gove rnme nt intends as one str ategy to reduce urban poverty, the progress of
the existing ente rprises restricted and the employees could be displaced. This
indicates more government intervention in the activity. However, the guide line
is not still a p plicable .

3.3.3. Contracting and Concession

In contracting, the gove rnm ent gives a finite-term contra ct to a private firm for
the delivery of solid waste collection service, street sweeping service, t he
collection of recyclable~, transportation operation, disposal service operation or
fleet mainte n a n ce service as an extension of the municipal solid waste system
by ch a rging user fees. It a lso e ncourages public- private sector partnership .

As inte rviewees revealed , government curre ntly did not make any contract in its
payment with enterprises. This is contrary to Latin American countries of
Colombia, Peru a nd Bolivia in which most of the MSEs contracting the
municipality by charging the user fees. About 43.2 percent of the enterprises in
th e study areas have m ade private contract agreement with the household s and
es tabli s hme n ts a nd th e rest 8 . 1 percent of the enterprises collect waste without
any private agree ment. Private agreement with open-competition accounted for
46.7 pe rcent of the enterpri ses in Arada and 40 .9 percent in Bole. About 37.8

61
t
pe rcent of the MSEs in the s tudy areas said that the government had give n
them a zonal monopoly license in a specified area. This accounts for 40 percent
in Ara d a and 36.4 pe rcent in Bole. The finding supports the literature whic h
indicates that households a nd establishments make private agreements with
individua l firm s for refuse collection, recycling or disposal se rvices (Cointreau ,
199 4, Schubeler , 1996). However the study in Colombia, Peru a nd Bolivia
s h ows th a t the majority of th e waste man agement MSEs a r e contracted by
municipa lities to work in places where municipal waste collection trucks can
not reac h or in peri - urba n areas that h a ve a low popula tion density a nd whe re
municipal services a r e too expensive.
In concess ion , the governme nt accepts an agreement to a private firm to set up
a facility that utilizes th e government owned refuse to recycle paper, plastic,
metal a nd glass. This can be long term or after a specified period of private
own e r ship or opera tion. The re is no any concession a greement in the study
areas with government as it d emands high capital investment for the purchase
or con struction of facilities.

Gen erally the s urvey r esult sh owed tha t the involvement of MSEs in the study
a reas is consistent with ope n-competition met hC'd of Cointrea u (1994) although
nearly 49 p ercent of the e nte rprises implicitly said the government h a s licensed
to invo lve in zon a l arran gem e nt.
3.4. Income and Employment Conditions of Employees
3.4.1. Employment Conditions
This s ection look s at the employment situation, requirements to b e employed ,
wo rkin g h ours , wage paym ent a nd h ealth protection at work in solid waste. The
worke r s s urvey revealed that about 56.3 percent of the workers a re
permane ntly employed a nd 38.3 percent are temporary employed in both sub-
citie s. This findin g is contrary to the literature of Haan, et.al. (1998) who said
ofte n la bore r s a re hired on a casual or short-term basis and many MSEs rely on
fa mily wo rkers who are often not paid for their work. This is because most of

62
the employees a r e pe rma n e ntly employed. The numbers of permane nt
employees a r e higher in Bole compared to Arada (Ta ble 36).
Regarding the typ e of employment, a bout 71.3 percent were employed for waste
collection a nd 2 1. 3 percent a re a ccountants and site supervisors. This indica tes
tha t there is limited division of la bor.
Table 36: Workers employment by type In= 80)
Sub-city
Type of employment Bole Arada Total
F % F %
Temllorary Employees 930.0 22 44.0 31 38.8
Pe rma nent Employees 18 60.0 27 54.0 45 56.3
Self-Employed 1 3.3 - - 1 1. 3
No response 2 6 .7 1 2.0 3 3.8
Total 30 100% 50 100% 80 100%
Source: Own surve y AddIs Ababa 2005

Conce rning the r ecruitment criterion, about 62.5 percent of the employees said
j o bless n ess as m aj or requireme nt while 22.5 percent mentioned capability for
ph ys ical work is a n important r ecruitment criterion . Educationa l level a s
r equirem e nt crite ria was least observed. It accounted only for 3 .8 percent of the
empl oyees (Table 37). Therefore , Joblessness and capability for physical work
wer e the two maj o r requirements for employment in solid waste MSEs . This
shows the n ecessity of high e nergy for solid waste collection.
Table 37: Workers recruitment criteria by sub-city In= 80)
Sub-city
Recruitment criteria Bole Arada Total
F % F %
Educational level 2 6.7 1 2 .0 3 3 .8
Joble ssness 18 60 .0 32 64.0 50 6 2 .5
Capa bili ty for physical work 8 26.7 10 20.0 18 22.5
Joblessness a nd Ca pability for 2 6.7 7 14.0 9 11.3
Physical work
Total 30 100% 50 100% 80 100%
Sou rce: Ow n s urvey AddIs Ababa, 2005

About 53 .8 per cen t of th e employees work for 8 hours a day, 22.5 p erce nt work
for a bout 6 and h a lf h ours a nd 15 percent work for 7 hours a day . There is

63
 some variation regarding the working hours of the employees . This is because
the waste gen eration frequen cy of the area m ade t h e working hours longer. For
ins tance workers a re working for longer hours in Ara d a than Bole beca use of
the presence of hote ls and fruit s a nd vegetable shops . This implies employees
workin g hours a re dependent on th e waste gen er ating capacity of the area.
Gene rally longer working hours (9 a nd above) were r ecorded in Arada sub-city
(Table 38). However th e wages p a id a re n ot proportional to their work in Arada
compared to Bole.
Table 38: Employees working hours per day by sub-city (n= 80)
Sub- Working Hours Per day
city
Below 6 6-6:30 7 8 9 10-11 Total
Bole 3 10.0 8 26.7 6 20 .0 13 4 3.3 - - - 30 100%
Arada - - 10 20.0 6 12 .0 30 60.0 3 6.0 1 2.0 50 100%
Total 3 3.8 18 22 .5 12 15.0 43 53.8 3 3.8 1 1.3 80 100%
Source: Own survey, AddIs Ababa, 2005

Employees' wo rking d ays per week a lso va ried (ta ble 39). Of the total
interviewed employee s a bout 35 percen t said they work seven d ays per week (a ll
week d ays), 32.5 percent work from Monday to Saturday or for 6 days and 26.3
percent said they work from Monday to Fridays or for 5 days. Moreover, 6.3
perce nt of the employees work two to three d ays per week. These people are
probably part tim e workers. The r esu lts show that working days a re longer in
Arada sub-city than Bole. This is probably due to t h e n ature of Arada which is
a business cen ter a nd thus generating huge amount of was.

64
Table 39: Employees working days per-weak by sub-city (n= 80)
Working Days Per Week
Sub-city Monday- Monday- All week Two-Three Total
Friday Saturda~ Days Days
Bole 5 16 .7 20 66 .7 3 D .O 2 6.7 30 100%
Arada 16 32 .0 6 12.0 25 50.0 3 6 .0 50 100%
Total 21 26.3 26 32 .5 28 35 .0 5 6 .3 80 100%
Source: Own s urve y, AddIs Ababa 2005

Solid waste coll ectors (employees) were asked to express the views of the
community to wards their employment in solid wa ste activity. About 82.5 p ercent
(66 ) of the employees h ad got encouragement from the community to continue with
the activity, 5 percent (4) were advised to stop the activity and 2.5 percent (2) of the
employees were excluded from any social affairs. This implies that solid waste
collection is recognized as important source of employm ent by the workers as well
as the community.
Health h azard is a m aj or threat of workers in solie!. waste management. As workers
work in h ealth y a nd unhygienic environment, they n eed all kind of protection
includ ing vaccin ation. The re sult showed that 30 percent of the employees h ave
work gown , 25 p ercent h ave gloves, masks and gown together, 16.3 percent have
gloves a nd gown only and 8.8 p ercent have gloves, boots and gown a t the sam e
time. There is n o variation in the h ealth protection of workers in the study areas.
Th erefore, it is clear fro m the results that the h ealth condition of solid waste
empl oyees are at high risk s ince health protection materials are not fully provided
to workers. The Operation Department of SBPDA informed that offices are opened
in each su b-city with two h ealth workers to assist the enterprises and their
employees III h ealth aspects. But respondents replied they have weak
relationships.

About 93.8 percent of the interviewees responded that there is no gender bias
(segregation) in employm ent and 6.3 p ercent responded that there is gender bias.
Those who responded for the existen ce of gender bias m entioned that women were
excluded from employment in solid waste MSEs due to the physical work involved
in solid wa ste activity. As the survey results showed in Table 40 gender

65
segregation was a lmost nil in the two study areas even though large number of
women were em ployed than men employees.

Table 40: Gender segregation in employment by sub-city In = 80)

Sub-city
Gender s egregation Bole Arada Total
F % F %
Yes 2 6 .7 3 6.0 5 6.3
No 28 93.3 47 94 .0 75 93.8
Total 30 100% 50 100% 80 100%
Source: Own survey, AddIs Ababa, 2005

According to the information obtained from the field s u rvey, about 65 percent of
the employees a re females whereas 35 percent a re m a les. Data in Table 41
s howed that there is a significant involvement of females in both s u b-cities .
Table 41: Distribution of employees by sex and sub-city In= 80)
Sub-city
Sex Bole Arada Total
F % F %

Male 9 30 .0 19 38 .0 28 35 .0
Female 21 70 .0 31 62.0 52 65.0
Total 30 100% 50 100% 80 100%
Source: Own su rvey AddIs Ababa, 2005

3.4.2. Income of Employees

The income distribution of the employees shows that th e majority (47.5 percent)of
the employees earn 100 to 150 Birr per month, 2 1. 2 percent earn 151-200 Birr
and 13.8 percent earn 201 to 250 Birr (table 42 ). In addition to this 7.5 percent
were paid below 100 Birr per month and 10.1 percent are paid 25 1 Birr and above.
There is a variation in the wage p ayment of the two study areas. For instance, 46.6
percent of th e employees in Bole receive between 201 - 300 Birr per month while
66 percent of the employees in Arad a receive 100- 150 Birr. Employees in Bole
receive high er income tha n Arada. This wage variation is probably due to
differences in MSEs earning as they operate in high and low income areas.

66
In general about 76.2 percent of the employees receive wages below 20S Birr or the
minimum wage in the country in both study areas. This figure is higher in Arad a
(92 percent) compa red to Bole (SO percent) . This finding is confirmed with the
observa tion of Haan, et a l (1 998) who mentioned that the wages of employees are
often low, irregula r and insecure. This is because most of th e MSEs a re not
governed by workers law. This implies the intervention of government between the
two for negotiation.
Table 42: Employees wage payment per month by sub-city (in Birr) (n= 80)
Sub-city
Wage per month Bole Arada Total
F % F %
Below 100 5 16 .7 1 2 .0 6 7.5
100- I S0 5 16.7 33 66 .0 38 47 .S
I S I -200 5 16.7 12 24.0 17 21.2
201-250 7 23.3 4 8.0 11 13.8
2S1-300 7 23.3 - - 7 8.8
Above 300 1 3 .3 - - 1 1.2
Total 30 100% 50 100% 80 100%
Source: Own survey, AddiS Ababa, 2005

Th e m ajority of the employees (96.3 percent) a re paid their salary once in a

month and on ly 3 .8 perce nt are paid twice in a month (Table 4 3 ). This shows
that solid waste e mployees a re regularly paid as the other sector s do .
Table 43: Employees wage payment by period (n = 80)
Sub-city
Period of wage payment Bole Arada Total
F % F %
Twice in a month 1 3.3 2 4.0 3 3.8
Once in a month 29 96 .7 48 96 .0 77 96. 3
Total 30 100% 50 100% 80 100%
Source: Own survey, AddiS Ababa, 2005

Employees were requested to express their attitude whether the income they
earn was suffic ient to support their fam ily or not. About 70 p ercent of the
employees responde d that th e income is not sufficient while 22 .5 percent said it
is suffi c ient. Those who responded income is insufficient are higher in Arad a 72
perce nt than in Bole (66 .7 percent). This is an indication that MSE partic ipa nts
can n ot s upport their lives properly from the incomes they derive . Despite thi s

67
however, a s ignifica nt portion 73.8 percent mentioned that they have a b e tter
life now compared to their previous life. The s urvey result h as shown tha t most
of the partic ipants were une mployed, street men and immigrants who were
suffering from poverty b efore they join the solid waste activity.
3.4.3. Employees Future Prospects

Con cerning the future plan of the employees, the majority (51.3 percent) like to
s hift to governm ent and private sectors while 44 percent like to stay in the
bus iness. Of the former group 20 percent mentioned that they like to be engaged in
other private sector while 31 percent want to be employed in government
institution. Of those who wanted to be in the business, 26 percent mentioned tha t
they like to start their own business. The fact that most want to leave the sector is
a n indication of the poor working conditions of the sector. It is important to
overcome the constraints and problems of the sector in order to convince them to
stay in the business. The fact that a significant proportion (26 percent) want to
start their business activity the need to put in place an enabling environ ment to
encourage them with the ir plans. At the sub-city level, there is a varia tion of
e mployees' future plan. For instance, more employees in Bole (36.7 percent) want
to start their own business than in Arada (20 percent). This is because employees
in Bole earn more income than Arada. That is why 64 percent of the employees in
Arada wanted to s hift to other sectors than those in Bole (30 percent) . Employees
who intended to s tart own business on solid waste collection were asked regarding
their source of start up capital. The two main sources are own savings and loa n
from micro finance institutions. No one mentioned loan from banks due to
collateral problems of the employees (Table 44). This implies the need for the
revision of loan procedures of financial institutions in the country.

68
Table 44: Employees' Future Plan by Sub-city In = 80)
Sub-city
Employees Bole Arada Total
F % F %
Start own bus iness on solid waste 11 36 .7 10 20.0 21 26.3
To be employed in government
institutions 3 10.0 22 44.0 25 3 1. 3
Continue in the enterprise 6 20.0 8 16.0 14 17 .5
Change to other service sector 6 20 .0 10 20.0 16 20 .0
No response 4 13. 3 4 5.0
Total 30 100% 50 100% 80 100 %
Source: Own su rvey, AddIs Ababa, 2005

3.5. Constraints, Problems and Institutional Support for

Enterprise Growth
3.5.1 . Institutional Support
This part examines in which a reas ins titutions provide support for micro and
small e nterprises in order to improve solid waste management activities ..
About 2 1.6 pe rce nt of the enterprises in the study areas received support at
presen t while 78.4 percent h a d not r eceived a n y support during the year (Table
45).

69
Table 45 : Enterprises type of support by source (N = 37)

Source of Suppo rt Type of Support

Training Financial Tech nical + Co nsultanc
Material
1. Government 17 45.9 1 2 .7 7 18.9 17 45.9
2. NGOs 3 8.1
3. Chamber of commerce
4. Private Banks
5. Government Banks
6. Micro Fi na n ce 3 8.1
In stitutions
7. Private organization 1 2.7 1 2 .7
8. 1 + 2 3 8.1 1 2.7 4 10.8
9.2+ 3 1 2 .7
10.2 + 7 I 2.7
To tal 37 56. 8 37 18.9 37 2 9 .7 37 5 9. 5
Source. Own sur vey, Addzs Ababa, 2005

[n terms of financial support only 18.9 percent of the enterprises received som e
support from few institutions. Micro finance institutions provided loan only for 8.1
percent of the enterprises. This is mainly because most of the solid waste
entrepreneurs h ad colla teral problems which are the requirement to get the loan.

According to the information obtained from interviewees, 29.7 p ercen t of the

enterprises h ad got technical and material support from governm en t and private
institutions and NGOs. Government institutions contribute d rela tively b etter than
NGOs . Information from SBPDA indica tes th at enterprises are made to use
municip al contain ers freely as incentives. MSEs that could dispose at th e fin al
dumpsite are allowed to dispose freely. Nearly 6 0 percent of the enterprises h ad got
con sulta ncy servi ce from government, NGOs and priva te orga nization . Government
takes the high est s h a ; e in consultancy service. About 45.9 p ercent of th e
en ter prises received consultancy from government.

The result indicates that majority of MSEs do not adequately receive support by
various ins titutions . This could restrict the full p articipation of MSEs in different
a reas of solid waste management activity a nd its progress a t high levels of activity.

70
Government a lso ranks first in providing training for 45.9 percent of the
enterpri ses and 8.1 percent of the enterprises encouraged by both government and
NGOs together. The contributions of institutions other than the government are
very low. At the sub-city level, about 46 .7 percent (4) of the enterprises in Arada
and 45 .5 percent (10) in Bole were trained by government institutions.

About 45.9 percent of the enterprise oper ators were trained in solid waste
collection, separation and recycling and compost preparation before th ey were
involved into solid waste management activity. Of this Arada accounted for 29.7
percent and Bole for 16.2 percent at the sub- city level. Data in table 45 indicate
that about 54.1 percent of the enterprise operators had no training directly related
to so lid waste activities. This low training skill reduces enterprises productivity in
the work and exposed for high health risk (Table 46).
Table 46: Number of enterprise operators trained in different activities
(N= 37)
Type of training Sub-city
Bole Arada Total
NO .of NO. of Trainees
TraineesTrainees
Waste collection 3 13.6 2 13.3 5 13.5
Waste seoaration 1 4 .5 2 13.3 3 8.1
Recvcling - - 2 13.3 2 5.4
Comoost oreparation 2 9.1 5 33 .3 7 18.9
Total 22 27 .3 15 73.3 37 45 .59
Source: Own survey, Addls Ababa, 2005

3.5.2. Constraints and Problems

The interviewees in both study areas generally confirmed that lack of working
too ls and finance are their major problems for t h e gr owth and development of
the enterprises. This is ascertained by a bout 40 percent of th e enterprises in
both sub-cities. Shortage of finance is the core of th e problem in both study
areas. This is because the availability of capital means the availability of
working too ls like pushcarts, disposal vehicles a nd oth er h ygiene protecting
materials.

71
The main sources of start-up capital were own savings, and borrowing from
fri end and r elatives. This implies tha t institutional support both governmental
a nd non-governmental is m eager. This has a n egative influence on MSEs solid
waste s e rvice .

Legal frame work was a lso mentioned as the second problem in the study areas by
a bout 16 .2 percent of the enterprise. It is indicated that the municipality has
issu ed a solid waste policy and procedure. However , the legal framework provided
by the city administration is found problem atic. This is because the new guideline
prepared by SBPDA a llows all enterprises to engage in solid waste activity through
zonal monopoly.
This procedure contra dic ts with the free market policy. The guideline is challenged
by the Network Associa tion of Addis Ababa City Solid Waste Management
Enterprise as contrary to open-competition. Problem of temporary storage for the
collec ted waste due to shortage of municipal con tainers and disposal truck s,
wastes a re found scattered in the n earby areas of temporary dumping s ites and
tra n sfer stations.
Inadequate a nd un s u staina ble training In solid wasle related activity might
contribute for ine fficien t solid waste m a nagem ent and low health protection of
workers in the study areas. It also caused for the poor performance of
accounting system.
S hortage of mac hin ery and problem of land prOVISIOn are also the other
con s traints for co mpost processing and recycling of wastes . Workers low wage
paym ent m ay reduce their working ethics and mora l which in turn h as a
n egative impact on sus taina ble waste management.

72
 CHAPTER FOUR
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
4.1. Conclusion
Currently, solid was te mic ro and small enterprises a re seen as one vehicle for
urba n en vironme nt m a nagem ent a nd to fill the gap created by the municipa lity.
The MS Es can a lso ge nerate employment a nd income for the poor.

Solid was te MSEs h a ve expa nded in the sub-cities. Most of the solid was tes
directly d isposed a t the n earby open spaces, rivers, ditches and road sides due
to inaccessible r oad s, rough surfaces and congested houses are now r educed
d ue to the activities of MSEs. These MSEs r.1ainly play a role in primary
collec tion , whic h is th e collection of refuses from households to municipa l (s ub-
city) tra n sfe r stations. The involvement of MSEs in solid waste managemen t
se rvices h as r esul ted not only in reducing the illega l disposal of wastes along
th e p ass ways but also is a ble to create the s ense of community owne rship to
urba n sanitatio n . The communities h ave learned to share waste manageme nt
expenses a nd prope r h a ndling of wastes. It h a s also indicated its potential for
job creation and inco m e ge n eration for some unemployed people .

Fu rthermor e , th e r ole of solid wa ste MSEs h a s expanded from environmental

sanitation and poverty a lleviation and employment creation objectives to
bus iness d evelopme n t . This is because solid waste MSEs have began to playa
role in bu s iness growth by increasing the supply of reusable raw m a teria ls
throu gh sorting (sepa ra tion), local recycling and composting.

According to the findings of the research, a substantial number of MSEs in the

study a reas a re involved in prima ry waste collection through door to door
m eth od a nd dump it into th e municipa l tra nsfer points a nd directly loading
on to municipa l tru ck s u sing own pushcarts. Households a re found to be th e

73
major service users of MSEs m both study a reas . However, the h ealth
conditions of waste workers are found to be at high risk due to low follow up
and inadequate training m hea lth aspects. The findings relating to
entrepreneurial activities of separation, compost processing and recycling are
found to be least growin g, though it is encouraging.
The research finding also portrayed that the method of involvement in solid
waste activity is based on open-competition and zonal monopoly arrangement.
However MSEs implicitly licensed to zonal monopoly, open-competition is not
prohibited until n ow even in zonal licensed areas. The study finding on the
income and employment section also indicates that a significant number of
jobless people are permanently employed in solid waste MSEs. It is also showed
that a substantia l number of females a re employed in Ara da sub-city while it
was insignificant number in Bole. However the income paid by a la rge number
of MSEs is found to be below the minimum wage of the country for Arada and it
is nearly fifty percent for Bole sub-city. The findings in both study a reas also
pointed out that lack of working tools and shortage of finance are the major
constraints for the operation and growth of MSEs. Shortage of finance is the
core of the problem due to inadequate institutional support.

4.2. Recommendations
Though solid waste MSEs play a very significant role in environmenta l
management, poverty reduction and employment creation, however their full
potential is not ye t realized. They need to be strengthened invigorated. The
following are some ideas that could be pursued to strengthen solid waste
MSEs.

> The role of micro and small enterprises m solid waste management
services such as collection, transporting, disposal, sorting, recycling and
compo sting are very essential. But most of solid wastes MSEs are
attracted to involve and operate in the activity slowly. This is mainly due

74
 to the low participation of government and non-governmental
organizations in providing loans and support. Almost a ll of the MSEs in
the study areas h ave sh ortage of start-up capital and credit for entry and
th e exp ansion of the business activity into higher levels. The main
sources of start-up capita l for most of the MSEs were informal sources
such as individuals and relatives. The municipal government should
expand the micro-finance institutions a nd provide especial support for
the sector in the study a reas. NGOs can a lso participate by providing
material and fina:1cial supports.

~ Solid waste activity is a risky work; especially workers are highly exposed
( to h ealth related problems. Therefore, th e SBPDA officials are expected to
provide h ealth related educations either on-job or prior to job training.
This will reduce the h ealth risk of employees because most of the
employees are now working without hygienic protective materials.

~ Although solid waste MSEs are very r ecently involved in solid waste
management services, they contribute to some extent in reducing urba n
pollution, especially primary collection from households to municipal
transfer points. But still there are problems of timely picking a nd
disposing at the final dumpsite. This activity (nearly all) is monopolized
by the municipality (sub-cities). The municipality a lone cannot solve this
problem. As a result of this the collected waste stays for a long hours and
even days at municipal conta iners a nd transfer stations . The municipa l
government s h ould en courage public-private partnership to involve
private in vestors at m edium scale enterprise level to participate in
tr ansporting waste to the final dumpsite. Thus MSEs will collect
household wastes up to municipal containers and transfer stations with
payme nt made by users while medium-scale enterprises will transport
the waste to the final dumpsite . The government should b e able to pay
the medium scale e n terprise for tra nsporting waste to final dumpsite .
75
~ Municipal government inte rve ntion and NGOs support should a lso be
b ased on training and consulta n cy services or in general informative
services co n ce rning market, documenta tion or accounting systems. These
enable MSEs to h ave good recording system of income a nd expense s a nd
the a mount of waste collected which in turn could be used to analyze and
ide ntify which one n eed s priority for encouragement.

~ The muni cipa l intervention on the m ethod of MSEs involvement s h ould

be based on establishing operationa l procedures which will be practiced
by both MSEs. This could minimize the conflict th at a rises between the
n ew entran ts a nd exis ting MSEs in case of unnecessary m arket
co mpetitiOl). . The responsibilities of the municipality should a lso include
m aking con tr actua l agreem e nts with e nterprises for solid collection
activity.
~ Even th ough solid waste MSEs has grea t potential for employment
gen eration for the unemployed, th e monthly wage paid to the employees
is n ot comparable to the h a rd work of the employees. The municipa l
government s h ould negotiate with the MSE owners to ensure employees
ge t at lea st the minimum wage of the country.

76
.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Addis Aba b a City Administration Finance and Econ omic Development Bureau,
Population Estimates, Addis Abab a, 2005 .
Addis Ababa City Administration, Solid Waste Policy, Ad d is Abab a, 2003.
Addis Ababa SBPDA, (2003) . Solid Waste Management Status Report of Addis
Ababa: The Way for Ward, Addis Ababa, J u ly, 2003.
Ali, M., Cotton, A. a nd Beall, J., (1 998). Micro enterprise Development for
Primary Collection of Solid Waste, 24 th WEDC Conference, Is lamabad,
Pakistan, 1998.
AlIal, M. (1 993 ). Micro and Small enterprise Development and Poverty
Alleviation in Thailand: MSEs Definitions and Con tribu tions, Working
Pa p er 6, ILO jUNDP Project, Bangkok, 1993 .
Andualem Tegegn e, (1997). Small Scale Enterprise and Entrepreneurship
Development in Ethiopia: Pr oceedings of the 6 th Ann ual Conference on the
Ethiopian Economy, Addis Ababa, Novemb er, 1997.
Barton e, C. R. Bernstein, J . and Wright, F . (1 990 ). Investments in Solid Waste
Management: Opportunities for Environmental Improvement IBRD, May
1990.
Bartone, C.R. , (1 995 ). The Role of the Private Sector in Developing Countries:
Keys to Success on Solid Waste Managem ent, Paper Presented in ISWA
Conferen ce, Sin gapore, 24-25 September, 1995.
Burns, P. (1 996) . The Significance of Smail Firms: Small Business and
Entrepreneurship, 2nd edition, 1996.
Coin treau-Levin e , S. (1994). Private Sector Participation in Municipal Solid
waste Services in Developing Countries, Vol. 1, The Private Sector,
Washington, D.C., 1994.
CSA, (1 994) . Population and Housing Census of Ethiopia, April, 1996.
EPA and MEDC, (1997) . Environmental Policy of the Federal Democratic
Republic of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa, April 2, 1997.

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Fasika Damte and Daniel Ayalew, (1997). Financing Micro and Small Scale
Enterprises in Urban Ethiopia. Addis Ababa, Novem ber, 1997.
Ha an , H.C ., Coad, A. and Lardinois, I., (1 998). Involving Micro and Small
Enterprises in Municipal Waste Management: Guide Lines for Municipal
Ma nagers , Co-publication with GTZ, SKAT and ILO, 1998.
Hyub a, T.S. and Turibo- Habwe, G.P. , (1999). Gender and Entrepreneurship:
Open Space Agricultural Produce Enterprises in Uganda, Dar-es Salam,
Tanzania, 1999.
Klundert, A. Vande and Lardinois, I. , (1 995). Community and Private (formal
and Informal) Sector Involvement in Municipal Solid Waste
Management in Developing Countries: Back groun d Paper for the UMP
Workshop in Ittingen, 10- 12 May, 1995 .
Michael, B. , (1986). Encyclopedia of Britannica, No. 15, 1986.
Moningka, L. , (2000). Community Participation in Solid Waste Management:
Factors Favoring the Sustainability of Comm u nity Participation , A Literature
Review, the Netherlands , June 2000.
MOTI , (1997) . Micro and Small Enterprises Development Strategy: A Draft
Strategy, Addis At-a ba, Ethiopia, November , 1997.
Neck , P.A. a nd Nelson, R.E ., (1987). Small EnterFrises Development: Policies and
Programs, 2 nd edition, International Labor Office, Geneva, 1987.
ORAAMP, (2 001). The Number of Kebeles and Sub-cities in the New Structure
of Addis Ababa, 2001.
ORAAMP, (2002). A Project Prop osal for Add is Ab a ba: Municipal Waste
Management Program, Addis Ababa, April, 2 00 2.
Ra nd, T., Haukohl, J. and Marxen, U. (2 00 0 ). Municipal Solid waste
Incineration Requirements for a Successful Project: World Bank
Technica l Pape r No. 462 , Wa shington, D.C., J u ne, 2000 .
SBPDA, (2004). Assessment of Micro and Small Enterprises Engaged in Solid
Waste Management in Addis Ababa, Research and Coord ination
Department, Addis Ababa, April, 2004 .

78
Scheinberg, A. (2001). Micro and Small Enterprise in Integrated Sustainable
Waste Management: Tools for Decis ion Markers, Experiences from the
Urban Waste Expertise Programme (1995-200 1) Netherland s; Waste, 200l.
Scheinberg, A., Klundert, A. and Rudin, V., (2000). MSEs in Urban
Environmental Improvement: Panacea, Strategy or Transition Stage , the
Netherland s, May, 2000.
Schube le r , P. , (1 996 ). Conceptual Framework fo r Municipal Solid Waste
Management in Low Income Countries: Ur ban Management and
Infrastruc ture , UNDP /UNCHS (Habitat) /World Bank/ SDC Collaborative
Progra mme, Working Paper No.9 , August, 1996.
The Constitution of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, Federal
Negarit Gazeta, 1s t year No. 1, Addis Ababa, August21, 1995.
Waste Management, Collection and Disposal Regulations of the Addis Ababa
City Government, Addis Negari Gazeta, Regulations No. 13/2004, 2 nd Year
No. 2 9, Februa ry 21, 2004.
WBG , (2001).Urban Development: World Bank Solid waste Management, 200l.
http: ( (www.gdrc.org ( u em (waste(swm-wa ste .htm( .
http: ( (wwv.r.gdrc.org ( uem ( waste ( swm-wa st.e. glossary-htm l

79
 APPENDIX A
Conceptual and Operational Definitions
The actu a l defini tion of municipal solid was te varies from country to
country a nd even place to place. As Ra nd et.al (2000: 10) classified the
type of waste into six categories including:
• Domestic waste: waste from h ousehold activi ties su ch as fo od
prepa ra tion, clea ning, fuel burning, old clothes a nd furniture ,
obsolete utensils and equipment, packaging, n ews print garden
wastes. In lower-incom es countries domestic waste is dominated
by fo od waste a nd ash whereas middle a nd higher-income
countries h ave a larger proportion of pa per, plastic, m etal, glass,
di scarded items a nd h azardous ma tter.
• Commercial waste: waste from s hops, offices, resta urants, hotels,
and similar commercial establishments typically consisting of
packaging materials , office supplies a nd food waste . In lower-
incom e countries, fo od m a rkets m ay contribute a larger proportion
of the commercial waste. It may also include hazardous
components such as con taminated packaging m aterials.
• Institutional waste: waste from schools, hospitals, clinics ,
government offices, military bases, and so on. It is simila r to both
domestic ad commercial waste s, a lthough there is more packaging
m aterials than food waste. Hospital and clinical waste include
potentia lly infectious a nd h azardous m a teria ls .
• Industrial waste: waste components similar to domestic and
commercial source waste includin g food wastes from kitchens and
canteens, pack aging m aterials, plastics, pa per and m etal items.
Some production processes, however, utilize or generate haza rdous
(chemical or infectious) substances. Disposa l routes for haza rdous
wastes are usually different from those for non-hazardous wastes.
 The composition of industrial waste depends on the kind of
industries involved.
• Street sweeping: this waste is dominated by dust and soil
together with varying amounts of paper, metal, and other litter
from the streets. In lower income countries, street sweepings may
also include drain cleanings and domestic waste dumped along the
roads, plant remains, and animal manure.
• Construction and demolition waste: the composition of this
waste depends on the type of building materials but typically
includes soil, stone, brick, concrete and the like.
As some studies indicated there is no also a standardized definition
accepted by all countries con cermng micro and small enterprises.
Because of this problem different countries use their own definitions that
are suitable to each countries socio-economic condition. In the literature
it is indicated that in the mid 1970s a study of small enterprises
identified over 50 different definitions in 75 countries (Neck and Nelson,
1987: 2). For insta nce, many countries use different criterion such as the
number of employees, paid-up capital and annual turnover of capital to
define MSEs. Of which the number of workers criteria is the most
commonly used and the easiest classification criterion used by many
countries. But this single criterion is disadvantageous because an
enterprise usmg 20 workers may be considered as a small enterprise
while it has the characteristics of a micro-enterprise with a few hand
, tools, low fixed assets and low yearly turnover of capital. On the other
hand, an enterprise with five workers may be classified as a micro-
enterprise having a highly capital-intensive technology with a high yearly
turnover of capital (AlIal, 1993: 15).
Thus the absence of a nationally accepted definition of MSEs affects the
promotion and development strategy to be adopted and a lso causes
confusion and conceptual differences even among the varIOUS

2
implementing agencies and bodies leading to inconsistent support or
development efforts to MSE sector in general (Andualem, 1997: 7).
Hence, some formally agreed national definitions are of vital importance
for research purposes, consistency of legislation a nd policy makers as
well as financial and enterprise promotion agencies to make appropriate
measures to particular sectors (Hailey, 1991 as cited by Ibid 1997: 7) .
Based on this MSEs use both qualitative and quantitative definitions.
Qualitatively MSEs are fo cusing on characteristics or size of enterprise of
micro and small enterprises which prefers to dwell on their role in
development such as the creation of employment, income distribution,
poverty reduction, etc. Quantitatively MSEs are rely on clearly defined
parameters (or a combination of parameters) which include the number
of employees, sales turnover, and assets and capital.
Operational Definitions
• An MSE can be defined as a group of people working together for
financial gain subject to the limits on numbers of workers and capital
(Haan, Coad and Lardinois, 1998: 12).
• Micro-Enterprises: as those business activities that are
independently owned and operated by the owners and employing five
or less employees (Burns, 1996: 3) and as Scheinberg (2001: 8)
employing 1 to 10 workers.
• Small Enterprises: as those business enterprises that are
independently owned and operated by the owners and employing 6 -49
employees (Andualem, 1997: 8) and by Scheinberg (2001 : 8)
employing 11 to 50 workers.
• Micro and small Enterprises: solid waste pre-collection providers
with low capita l intensive (SBPDA, 2004:5)
So the definition of Scheinberg is more relevant for this study. The
ministry of trade and industry of Ethiopia (1 997: 3) also defined:

3
• Micro-Enterprises: as small business enterprises with a paid-up
capital of not exceeding 20,000 birr and excluding high tech
consultancy firms.
• Small Enterprises: a re those business enterprises with a p a id-up
capital of above 20,000 up to 500,000 Birr and excluding high
tech. Consultancy firms and other high tech establis hments.
• Family Ownership of Enterprises: an enterprise whic h IS

dependence on family labor force, or sole or joint ownership with

few members of a family (Hyuba and Turibo Habwe, 1999 : 249).
• Sole Ownership: is a single person wh o holds the entire firm as
his personal property and operates and manages on a day to day
b asis (Michael, 1986: 410).
• Partnership: is an establishment own ed a nd oper ated by more
than one person with unlimited liability (Ibid: 1986: 410).
• Share Holder (Company): is a business organization formed by an
agreement made between at least five or more p ersons with limited
liabili ty and the shares are transferable (Michael, 1986: 411).
• Municipal Solid Waste: comprises refuse from households, non-
hazardous solid waste from industrial, commercial and
institutional establis hments, m arket waste a nd str eet sweepings
(Schubeler, 1996: 18 ).
• Municipal Solid Waste Management (MSWM): refers to the
collection , tra nsfe r, treatment, recycling, resource recovery a nd
disposal of sol1o waste in urba n a reas (Schubeler, 1996: 8 ). •
• Recycling: is separating a given waste material from the waste
stream a nd processing it to be used again as useful material for
products which mayor m ay not be s imilar to the origina l (SBPDA,
2004: 5 ).

4
• Composting: is the controlled decomposition of organic matter by
micro -organisms, mainly bacteria a nd fungi, into a humus-like
product (Ibid, 2004 : 5).
• Transfer point: a designated point, often at the edge of a
neighborhood, where small collection vehicles transfer waste to
larger vehicles for transport to disposal s ites (www.gdrc.org).
• Waste collection: the process of picking up wastes from
residences, businesses, or collection point, loading them into a
vehicle, and transporting them to a processmg, transfer, or
disposal site (www.gdrc .org).
• Disposal: the final handling of solid waste, following collection,
processing, or incineration (www.gdrc .org) .

5
 APPENDIX-B
Table 24: Enterprises total no. of clients (initial and current, by sub-city
(N = 37,
Bole Sub-city No. of clients
Name of Enterprises Initial Currant
Abbay Solid Waste Disposing Service 27 700
Addis Gagbage Cleaning Service 10 400
Beruh Tesfa Company 130 130
Dolphin Cleanin g Service 50 600
Dynamic Sanitary Service 19 502
Environmental Care Service 20 306
Fana Clearing Service 30 265
Four Friends 95 Clearing Service 30 150
United Friends Clearing Service 60 405
Gerji and Surroundings Cleaning Service 35 1250
Goh Cleaning Service 15 400
Hebret Cleaning Service 5 20
Haimanot and Families Solid Waste Service 52 82
Melkam Addis Ababa Cleaning Service 2 200
Negat Solid Wast Disposal 25 112
Ediget Behebret Clearing Crevice 25 25
Senay Cleaning Service 90 300
Star Clearing Service 40 180
Tesfa Birhan Cleaning Service 40 120
Tir et Solid Waste dispo sal 3 243
Unity Integrated Sanitary Service 300 650
Wai-founder 26 500
Total 1034 7540
Arada Sub-city
Birhan Sanitary Service 30 1000
Beruh Tesfa Clearing Associa tion 15 3 00
Chechelia Cleaning Service 35 285
Dink Cleaning Service 28 339
Ediget Fana Cleaning Service 150 87
Fikat Cleaning Service 30 500
Hebret Chora Cleaning Service 50 450
Nib Cleaning Service 100 3 00
Selam Sanitary Service 20 280
Temsalet Solid Waste Cleaning Service 60 40
Tibeb Berh an Share Company 120 852
Tsedat Lelema t 250 500
Tesdat Letena 40 380
Yehaebret Fire 100 900
ZebSef Initiative 300 250
Total 1328 6463
Source: Own Survey, Addis Ababa, 2005

6
 APPENDIX C-l
Micro and Small Enterprises' Involvement in
Solid Waste Management Services in
Bole and Arada Sub-Cities
(Interview Schedule with Enterprise Managers/Owners)
Date : _ _ _ __ _
Time : _ _ _ _ __
Respondent Number: _ _ _ _ _ __
Place of Birth: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

PART I: Demographic Characteristics

1. Sex of owner a. Female
b. Ma le
2 . Age _ _ _ _ _ _ years
3 . Ethnicity a . Amhara c . Tigra i e. Wolayita
b.Oromo d. Gurage f. Specify/any ------------
4. Marital status
a. Single c. Divorced
b . Married d. Widowed
5 . Family size _ _ _ _ _ in number
a . Fema le_ _ __ _
b . Male_ _ _ _ __
6. Number of child ren you h ave _ _ _ _ _ _ in number
a. Female _ _ _ _ __
b. Ma le_ _ _ _ _ __
7. Wh at is your level of educa tion?
a. Illite ra te f. Tec hnical a nd vocationa l school
graduate
b. Read and write g. College diploma
c. Primary sc hool level (1 -8) h . 1st d egree holde r
d. Secondary school level (9-.12) I. Specify if any

e. 12 th Completed
8. When do you start to live 111 Addis Ababa? Since

9 . If your pla ce of residence was out of Addis, where is your place of

origin?

a. Rural b. Urban

7
PART II: Characteristics of the Enterprise
10. Who is the manager/head of the enterprise?
a. Spouse d. By Committees
b. Husband e. Employed professional
c . Son or daughter f. Wife
g. Speci~ifany _________________________________________
11. When was your enterprise established to do solid waste
management? Tn ___

12. Is you r MSE legally registered?

a . Ye s b. No
13 . If your answe r for question numbe r 12 I S "No" what IS your basic
reason?
a. Afraid tax payments
b. Inability to pay register fe e (licen se fee)
c. Bureaucratic processes of registering
d. Speci~ / any _______________________________
14. Does your e nterprise have an office?
a. Yes b. No
15. If your response for question 14 is "Yes" whose property is it?
a. Own property c. Rented from kebele
b. Rented from individuals d. Specify/any

16. How is the organizational structure of your MSE?

a. Family based (relatives) c. Share holder with
friends
b. Sole ownership d. Entrepreneur with spouse
17. What motives initiated you to involve in this activity?
a . Untapped opportunity of the sector e. For survival
b. Incom e generation f. Family business
background
c. Low quality of the city environment g. Initiated by NGOs
d . Ha d enough experience and knowledge h. Speci~ if any

18. Where do you find the start-up capital at first? •

a . Own savings f. Wi th joint partnership
b. Given from friends and relatives g. Safety nets
c. Borrowed from friends and relatives h. Speci~ if any

d. Bank loan
e . Loans from micro finance institutions

8
19. What were you doing before you start this business?
a. Farming
b . Operate own enterprise
c. Student
d. Employed in government institutions
e . Jobless
f. Family unpaid worker
g. Specify if any _ _ _ __ _ _ _
20 . Is the previous experience enables you to run the present business
activity.
a . Yes b . No
21 . If the answer for question 20 is "yes" m what ways?

22. Are you a member of a business association?

a . Yes b. No
23. Have you got a ny training in solid waste management before you start the
activity?
a . Yes b. No
24. If your response for question number 23 is "Yes" in which areas of
activity you trained?
a. Waste collection d. Compost
b. Waste scparation / sorting e.
Specify /any_ __ _ _ _ __
c. Waste recycling
25. What is your line of work in waste collection?
a . Transporting c . Recycling
b . Processing d.
Specify /an y_ _ _ _ _ _ __
26. What working tools do you use to provide waste management service? (In
number)
a.
b.
c. ,
d.
e.
f.
g.
h.
27. Are there particular tools (materials) you need, but you don 't h ave?
a. Yes b. No

9
28 . If yes wha t are they?
a . __________________________________________________
b. ___________________________________________
c . _______________________________________________
d. ___________________________________________
e. __________________________________________________
29 . How many employed workers does the enterpri se h ave at present?
• Permanent employees: _______________
a. Female___________
b . Male ___________
• Temporary_______________
a . Female __________
b. Male ___________
3 0. If the response in question 29 is No female employees what would be
the reason
31. How m a ny workers had the enterprise when it started solid waste
m a nagement?

a. Female ________________
b. Male _________________
32. Is it possible to say that the p a r ticipation of the enterprise in solid
waste management create job opportunity for the unemployed?
a. Yes b. No
33. If the response is "yes" can the sector playa role to reduce pove rty in
the city?
a. Yes b. No
34. If the response for question 33 is "yes" in what way poverty is
reduced?

35. What a mount was the start-up capital of the enterprise?

_________ birr.
36. Can you indicate the total monthly expenditure of the enterprise?
a. Yes b. No
37.. [f the response for question 36 is "yes" wJ:1at is the tota l amount?
______ birr.
38. If the response for question 36 is "No" what is the r eason for this?
a . Ha ve no idea about expenditure
b. Afraid someone will come to know the information for tax
purposes.
c. It is personal
d. Speciryifany ___________________________________
39 . Can you indicate the e nterprise 's monthly income?
a . Yes b. No

10
40. If the response for question 39 IS "a" what is the total monthly
income of the enterprise?
_ __ _ __ _ (Birr) .
PART III: MSEs Relationship with Clients/ Market
41. How the enterprise receive service charge from its client?
a . Once in a week d. During garbage collection period
b. Twice in a month e . Specify if any ________
c. Once in a month
42. What is the average amount the client would be willing to pay for the
service given by the enterprise? Birr/household.
43. Is the service charge paid by the client sufficient for the service
provided?
a. Yes b . No
44. If the response is "No" what amount would be fair for both the client
and the user? birr per
month.
45. How do your Enterprise got its client at first?
a. Began from the neighborhoods
b. Began from the relatives
c. Began from the institutions
d . Own e ffort to attract clients
46. If the response for question number 45 is "d" own effort, indicate the
strategy you followed?

47. How many clients do you find at first to start solid waste
management? (in number)
a. Households in number
b. Private institutions _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ in number
c . Government institutions in number
d. Specify/any _ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ __ _ __
48. How many clients do you have at this time?

a . Households _ __ _ _ _ _~-
b. Private institutions ____ __ _
c. Government in stitutions ______
49. How is the number of clients, since the enterprise have began its
function in solid waste management?
a. Highly increasing c . highly decreasing
b. Increasing d. Decreasing
50. How the clients store the garbage until your enterprise collects it?
a. With their own bins
b. Bins given by the enterprise
c. Bins given by donors
d. Specify if any _ __ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

1I
5 1. How many times your enterprise collects solid waste from clients?
a. Daily d. Twice- in a month
b. Twice in week e. Once in a month
c. Once in a week f. Others/ specify _ _ _ _ __
PART IV: Waste Collection by MSEs
52. Where is the collected garbage h a ndled until disposed?
a. Enterprise's own container b. Municipal container
c. Transported and disposed directly by enterprises veh icles.
d. Transported and disposed d irectly by municipa l vehicles.
53. Where does the enterprise store the collected waste if municipal
containers a re full or not emptied timely?
a. Will watch until the municipal truck comes e. Burn it
b. Dispose it near to full containers f. Specify/any _ __
c . Burry it under the holes
d . Store it with own temporary handling
54. What transportation systems the enterprise used to transport the
garbage from its source to transfer points?
a. Own vehicles d. Re nted vehicles
b. Own carts e. Specify/any

c . Rented pushcarts
55 . Wh ere the enterprises dump the collected waste?
a . At municipal transfer points c. At the
municipal truck
b. At final dump site of the municipality d. Specify / any

56. Do you know the total amount of solid waste (garbage) the enterprise
collect daily, monthly or yearly?
a. Yes b. No
57. If the response for question number 56 IS "Yes" specify 111 grams,
kilograms or tons _ _ _ _ _ _ __
a. Daily _ __ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __
b. Monthly _ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __
c . Yearly _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _~
58 . If the answer. for 56 is "No"
,. what would be the reason?
a . No wntten records d. Do not know
b. Difficult to measure in units e. Specify / any

c. No experience of recording

12
59. Which kind of wastes is collected by the enterprise?
a. Paper ___________________________________
b. Glass, bottles and ceramics ____________
c . Metals ___,.-_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __
d. Plastics and Rubber ____________
e. Textiles ,.--,-_ _--:-:-_ _ _ __ _ __
f. Grass Clippings and bones _ _ _ _ _ _ ___
g. Food, vegetables and fruits _________
h . Ash or sand
60 . Is there a waste which can not be collected by the enterprise?
a. Yes b. No
6l. If the response for question 60 is "Yes" Specify which waste (s )?

62. Based on question '59' which wastes are highly produced by you r
clients? Mention at least three of them in a rank order.
a. ___ _ _____ _ __
b . _______________________
c. ___________
63 . Is the enterprise currently separating recyclable goods?
a. Yes
b. No
64 . Is the enterprise currently separating compostable goods?
a . Yes
b. No

65 . What would the enterprise do with the separated material?

a . Make compost by the enterprise d. Generate
biogas
b. Reuse it as a raw material by th e enterprise e. Specify / any

c. Sale to other recyclers

66. What relationship does th e enterprise have with the kebeles?
a. Registration and license renewal
b. Technical and material support
c. advisory oi counseling service
d . Providing short-term tr a in ing
e. Specify/any _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ___
67 . What relationship does the enterprise have with the sub-city?
a. Registration and licen se renewal e. Loan p rovision
b. Technical and materia l support f. Specify / any

c. advisory or counseli ng service

d. Providing short-term training

13
68 . Does th e e nterprise have a s ub-contractual agreement with the
government's payment to do solid waste managemen t?
a . Yes b. No
69. How did yo ur enterprise participate in solid waste m a n age m ent?
a . Contracting c. Fra n chise (zonal)
b . Concession d . Open competition
7 0. If the answer for ques tion 69 is "a" which type of service given by the
municipality (s ub -city)?
a. Solid waste collection d. Trans fe r station operation
b. Stree t sweeping e . Disposal s ite oper ation
c. Collection of recyclables f. Fleet m a intenance
71. If the respon se for question 69 is "b" the agreement is
a. To recycle materials (paper, plastic, metal, glass) d. Sf ly

b. to recover resources (compost, h eat, electricity) from refuse

c. to transfe r or dispose of refuse
72. When the response in question 69 is "c" does the government give a
zon a l monopoly to the enterprise?
a . Yes b. No
73. When the response in question 69 is "d" do the individual house holds
a nd establishments m a ke private agreements with enterprise?
a. Yes b. No
74. Which segments of the society is getting solid waste management
service by thc cnterprise?
a . Lower-income group
b. Middle-income group
c . High -in com e group
d. Middle and high incom e group
e. All segments of the community
75. Is that true the invo lvement of enterprises contribute to mll1.1mlZe
solid waste manageme nt problems?
a. High c. Low
b. Medium d. Very low

14
PART VI: Institutional Support
76. Does the e nterprise get exte rnal support at th is time?
a. Yes b. No
From questions 77 to 80 will be answered based on "a" options a
through" h" an d one question may h ave more t h an one response.
Type of Source of support When (in
support/ marketing yearsl
a . Government
b. NGOs
c. Donors
d. Chamber of commence
e . Private banks
f. Government banks
g. Micro finance institution s
h . Private organization
77 . Training
78. Financial
79 . Technical and
material
80.
Consultancy / counseling-

81 . What are the major constraints that hinder the enterpri se

development? Put in rank.
a. Legal framework _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __
b. Market _ __ __ _ _ _ __ __ _ _ __ _
c. Skilled manpower _ _ _ _ __ __ __ __ _
d. Information _ _ _____________ _
e. Working tools _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __
f. Financial _________________
g. Speci~ifany ---_ _ __ _ _ _ _ ____
82 . How is the current general standard of the business activity of the
enterprise?
a. Strongly progressing c. strongly declining
b. progressing d. Declining
83. What the enterprise intend to do in the future?
a . Expand the existing business d. Start extra business
b. Continue the business at the present situation e. Specify if
any _ _ __
c. Change a business activity

15
 APPENDIX C-2
Micro and Small Enterprises' Involvement in
Solid Waste Management Services in
Bole and Arada Sub-Cities
(Interview Schedule with MSE Workers)
Date: - - - - - - - -
Time : _ _ _ _ _ _ __
Respondent Number: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __
Place of Birth: _ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __
PART I: Demographic Characteristics
1. Worker's Sex
a. Female b. Male
2. Age of worker _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ years
3. Ethnicity a. Amhara c. Tigrai e. Wolayita
b. Oromo d. Gurage f. Spedify! any _ _ _ _ __
4. Marita l status
a . Single c. Divorced
b. Married d. Widowed
S. Fa mily size und er you ________ in number
a . Female _ _ _ __ _ _ _
b. Male --:-:-:--:-_ __ :--_
6. Number of children you have _ _ ___ in number.
a. Female _ _ _ __ _
b. Male _ _ _ _ __ _
7. If your response for question number 4 is "a" how do you make a
living?
a . With father and mother d . Alone with rented house
b. With brother or sister e. Specify if any

c . With relatives
8. What is your level of education?
a . Illiterate e . 12 th completed
b. Read and write f. Technical and vocational school
graduated
c . Primary school level (1-8) g . College diploma
d. Secondary school level (9- 12) h. Degree holder

PART II: Background

9. When do you start to live In Addis Ababa? Sin<

10. Do you have any occupation before you engaged in this enterprise?
a . Yes b. No

16
11. If your response for question 11 is "yes" what was your occupation?
a . Government in stitution s
b. Private institutions
c. Own business activity
d. Farming
e . Specify/any _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ __
12. If your response for question 10 is "yes" for how many year s served
before th is en terprise? years.
13. If your r esponse for question 10 is No w h a t did you do before?
a . Dependent to my fa mily d. Unpaid family labore r
b . Student e . living on the streets
c. Daily labore r f. Specify if any _ __ __ _ __
14. When do you engaged ill this enterprise? Since _ _ Ethiopian
Calend ar.
15. For how many years you stay unemployed before you engaged in this
enterprise? years.
Part III: Work Condition
16. How the employment situation in this enterprise?
a . (Temporary) employed d. Self-employed
b . Permanent employed e. Specify any _ _ _ _ _ __
c. Unpaid family la borer
17. What a r e the main r equiremen ts to be employed in the ente rprise?
il. Work experie n cc d . Strong in physical work
b . Educational le vel e. Specify/any _ _ _ __
c. Jobless
18. What is your responsibility in this enterprise?
a. Secretary/Typist d . Waste collector
b . Personnel e . Supervisor
c. Accountant f. specify/any _ _ _ __
19 . How many hours do you work in the enterprise per day? _ _ __
h ours.
20. How m a ny days do you work within a week?
a. Monday to Friday c. All week days
b. Monday to Saturdays d. Specify/any _ _ _ _ _".-_
21. How is the a ttitud e of the community towards you working"on solid
waste collection?
a . Encouragement c. giving a dvice to stop the
work
b . exclusion from a ny social affairs d. Specify if any _ __ _ __

22. Wha t health and hygie ne ri sk protection do you use at work? Circle
all if n ecessary.
a. Gloves c . Boots
b . Masks d . Gown (Outer garment)

17
PART IV: Gender Participation
23 . Is there gender segregation to be employed in the enterprise?
a. Yes b . No
24. If your response for qu estion 23 is "Yes" which sex type is prohibi ted
not to be employed?
a . Women b. Men
2 5. If the response for question 24 is "women " what would be the reason
not to be employed?

26. If there are employed wome n what special treatment is done by the
enterprise?
a. Giving high employment opportunity for women employees
b . Giving special rest during pregnancy with payment
c. Supervisor
d. Accountant
e. No special treatment
PART V: Income
27. How much is your monthly payment by the enterprise ~~_ _ _
birr.
28. How is your wage paid by your employer?
a. Per day c. Twice in a month
b. Once in a week d. Once in a month
29. Is your monthly income sufficient to support your family life?
a. Yes b. No
30. Do you believe that this job opportunity improves your standa rd of
living than your previous life?
a. Yes b. No
PART VI: Future Prospects
31. What do you intend to do in the future?
a. Start own business on solid waste collection
b. To be employed in government institutions
c. Continue in this enterprise
d. Change to other service sector
32. If your .
. response for question 33 is "a " where do you find the source of
start-up capital?
a . Own savings
b . Borrowing from relatives/friends
c. Loans from banks
d. Loan from micro financial institutions
e . Gift from relatives/friends
f. Specify/any _ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _

18
Declaration
The thesis is my original work and has not been presented for a degree in
any other university and that all the sources of materials used for th e
thesis have been dully ac knowledged.

Name: Abebe Tegegne

Signature: -"d.
=fr--,"<..f_ _ __
Date: /:&/D7/06

Confirmed by the Advisor:

Name: Tegegne G/Egziabeher (Ph.D.1
S ignature: _ _ _ _ _ __ _
Date: ___________________