CLIMATE VARIABILITY, MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT AND THEIR ASSOCIATION AT AWEDAY TOWN, EAST HARARGHE ZONE, OROMIA REGIONAL STATE, ETHIOPIA

Abstract

Climate variability is recognized as one of the greatest challenges of our world today .It is predicted to have adverse consequences on the world’s ecosystems, economies and societies. The severity of adverse effects varies across countries, regions, and socio-demographic groups due to differences in exposures, sensitivities and adaptive capacities. The thesis was conducted on climate variability and municipal solid waste management in two kebeles of Aweday town, East Hararghe zone, Oromia regional state, Eastern Ethiopia. The purpose of this study was to assess climate variability, municipal solid waste management and their association. To achieve the objectives set, appropriate data was collected from two sample Kebeles, which were selected through purposive sampling method and 134 household heads were selected from the two sample kebeles. The study were used a mixed research design, five FGD were used as primary sources of information and the data were analyzed by Linear Regression model. Based on the findings of this research, the households’ solid wastes generation rate is measured to be 2.125kg/person/day. This made the daily total solid waste generation of residential areas of the town (100,010kg) respectively. poor households’ solid waste management practices resulted from improper handling of solid waste storage materials, low level of solid waste separation and resource recovery activities, and illegal solid waste disposal system. Solid waste management can have exacerbating effects on the climate especially due to the emission of greenhouse gasses; climate change have some positive impacts on wastewater management facilities such as waste stabilization pond and septic tanks. Based on the findings the following recommendations are forwarded: provision of climate information for people, execution of sustainable solid waste management systems (reuse, recycle, composting, and incineration)