Assessment of Public-Private-Participation of Solid Waste Management: A Case Study Warri, Nigeria

The menace of indiscriminately disposed heaps of refuse in most urban centers in Nigeria is a confirmation of the inability of the government to cope with the ills associated with rapid population growth rate and urbanization. This study assessed the participation of the private sector in the management and recycling of solid wastes as they together with the public sector strive to attain healthy and neat cities. The Actor Network Theory (ANT) was used as a framework to illustrate the interrelationship, interdependence and co-existence of the different participants in the management of solid waste. This co-existence was revealed to generate several challenges especially for the major Actors such as that of the preference of informal private waste collectors to the registered contractors assigned by the government to their residential areas and the hindrances posed by community youth on Private Sector Participant (PSP). However, from the study it was revealed that the introduction of Private Sector Participant was not enough to check the problems associated with solid waste management. Rather, a holistic approach where all actors, whether householders, formal or informal waste collector, scrap collectors, NGOs or CBOs should be considered by the Government in the policy formulation and implementation in sustainable solid waste management practices.