HOW MONROVIA COULD BENEFIT FROM THE STOCKPILE OF SOLID WASTES LITTERING ITS STREETS

Aloysius Juwee Morris

Liberia, a small West African country that has been hugely affected by a mass migration of people toward the urban centers; these migrants have been attracted to Liberia’s urban areas for numerous reasons prominent amongst which are the Pull factors, the Push Factors, Rural-Urban Migration, and Population Growth.

Population Growth One of the key reasons why people move to the urban areas in Liberia is as a result of poor economic considerations; as in the case of developed economies, the higher the literacy rate and understanding of the disadvantages of high fertility rates, the smaller the family size which in turn leads to slow down in population growth; unlike these developed countries Taiwan and South Korea, Liberia has experienced high population growth rates in the last decade with a population increase of more than 1.4 million persons over the last decade. A large chunk of this population has been migrated toward the urban centers especially the capital Monrovia; This is largely due to high illiteracy rates in Liberia, lack of adequate family planning information.

Rural-urban Migration: which is regarded as a form of geographical or spatial motion between one geographical unit or region and another in this case from rural communities in Liberia to urban centers/areas especially Monrovia. Migration is a continuous and repeated process. Many migrants are environmental refugees from badly depleted rural areas. In developing countries, industrial growth in urban areas offers employment and trading opportunities for rural people who are faced with declining living standards. Nowadays the urbanization is increasingly occurring also without any significant opportunities for new migrants and it is fastest in Africa. In the case of Liberia, people migrate from the rural towns and villages because of urban bias which is a process where the national government has placed more emphasis on projects in the urban areas ignoring the rural areas; these migrants are usually in search of education, job opportunities which are rare in the rural areas. Over the last few decades, there has been a massive movement of migrants from rural to urban areas in search of economic opportunities.

Push and Pull Factors: In Liberia, people move to cities due to poverty in rural areas, lack of schooling and sometimes environmental degradation as a result of logging and mining which has caused the huge migration of hunting games which was used as a source of economic wellbeing in the form of income and food. Logging and mining activities have been rampant in Liberia’s rural towns especially in the South Central and Northern parts of the country; as a result the environment has been affected, the people’s drinking water has been polluted and there has been left little or no chance to earn a living through the traditional means they have used over the past decades of the 50s, 60s, and 70s.

Push Factors: Liberia’s rural areas have had most of its land given to concessionaires by the government which has led to lack of arable lands to farm; as most of its rural inhabitants depend on subsistence farming as a lively hood; other natural disasters such as disease epidemic flooding and other health-related problems have led to people leaving Liberia’s rural areas to urban areas in search of better living conditions. Some traditional cultural norms such as the practice of genital mutilation and the practice of the traditional Poro and Sande Societies are amongst some of the push factors that cause massive migration into urban areas in Liberia. Pull Factors: the speculation of high wages and better livelihood in urban areas are amongst the biggest attractions for rural people. People will continue to migrate to cities as long as they expect urban wages to exceed their current rural wages. Employment opportunities, higher incomes, joining other rural refugees, freedom from oppressive lifestyle, access to better health care and education, are the “bright lights” for rural people.

One of the main reasons for people to move to urban areas is that the situation in rural areas is very difficult. With the income level they have, it is not possible to survive. In the case, even the low salaries in urban areas are more attractive than non-existing salaries in rural areas.

Most of Liberia’s urban population is concentrated in and around its capital Monrovia which is due to several factors amongst which are effects of the long years of war on rural communities, most of the hinterland of Liberia is isolated due to lack of road connectivity, lack of farm to market road which has led to farmers’ crops not having access to the markets, etc.

The above-listed factors are inherently inevitable due to the economic situation of the country. Most of Liberia’s urban population is situated in Monrovia and it is a known fact that the denser the population, the more waste it produces; given the above, we can establish that the waste in the Monrovia area and its suburbs are as the result of the density of the Monrovia population. There are also the presence of large slum communities in the Monrovia area which includes the West Point Community and the Clara Town and Doe Community areas; the slum areas are so densely populated and they are believed to be amongst the largest producers of the tons of solid wastes which include but not limited to human feces and other solid wastes.

These wastes have stockpiled so much that it’s now creating a concern for health disasters and many development practitioners and students of development are beginning to engage the process of providing a solution to how these wastes can be disposed of to avert any health crisis. If nothing is done about these wastes that have been stockpiled in major street corners around Monrovia and its suburbs, we could be headed for serious health emergencies.

Pictorial of trucks donated to the Monrovia City Corporation for the purpose of waste disposal

With about a quarter of the total population inhabiting Monrovia and its environs, it has become no doubt that the generation of solid waste is a mammoth challenge for authorities, waste disposal is normally a major challenge in developing countries with Liberia being no exception. The huge population of the Monrovia area has caused a mass overproduction of wastes which has caused a negative impact on our environment.

In spite of all these gloom painted in news articles and by international health organizations, the issue about waste production and management challenges has a silver lining; this article stresses the ways Monrovia could benefit from the huge stockpile of waste littering the street corners of Monrovia.

Sustainable waste management is a key concept in what experts term as the circular economy with the provision of a great many opportunities. Sustainable waste management has been proven to have great economic potentials which could be adequately leveraged by government and private companies.

A huge Pile of Garbage in a Monrovia Suburb

According to Quest, an Emmy award-winning multimedia Science publication series, one way to efficiently dispose of waste is to convert it to an electricity generating source by incinerating it. Solid wastes like the materials found in landfills areas of solid waste disposal sites in Gardnerville and whein town in Paynesville.

The government or private companies could innovate a waste to energy facility where solid wastes when disposed of could be burned thus transforming chemical energy to thermal energy; that thermal energy is then transformed into electrical energy by turning a turbine.

Another energy source produced by decaying solid waste from these landfills is methane; which is usually used as fuel energy.

As the nation is challenged with the provision of electricity, investment in sustainable waste management could help support the efforts of the Liberia Electricity Corporation to augment its supply of electric power in places where it has not reached.

As we may be aware, electricity is key to stimulating economic growth. According to his paper on the ‘Impact of Electricity Supply on Economic Growth in Nigeria’, Ukoima Nkalo studies found that for every 1% increase in the total supply of electricity, the economy is expected to grow by 3.94%.

The stats may be different in the Liberian scenario, but imagine an economy as large as that of Nigeria having such benefit from the supply of Electricity, what could be Liberia’s own share of the benefits of the increase in the supply of electricity on our economy.

The collection of garbage could also be a source of employment for many Liberians; as the need for the daily collection of wastes becomes ever pressing.

The city corporation and other relevant authorities should employ people to collect wastes from homes for disposal at designated sites to be forwarded to the landfill sites where they can be converted to electric power source and biogas to benefit the general economy; as more people are employed, the economy will experience an increase in people’s disposable income; which will, in turn, lead to growth of the country’s GDP which is generally known as an indicator for economic growth.

Imagine Monrovia converting its tonnes of solid wastes to electric power and fuel gas source; isn’t that a silver lining on the dark cloud of the pollution risks the city faces as a result of these wastes?

These great ideas are hidden behind one big word INNOVATION.

Aloysius Juwee Morris

Studies Applied Economics(MSc) with Emphasis on Development Studies at Xi’an Jiaotong University in Xi’an, China