COMPOSTING AS A SUSTAINABLE WASTE REDUCTION STRATEGY IN THE CITIES OF JOHANNESBURG AND LAGOS

Solid waste management challenges facing the cities of Johannesburg and Lagos are real; where residents hardly bother about issues pertaining to environmental care. As landfills reach their capacity, composting has become an increasingly viable means of organic waste management. The paper identified environmental and economic benefits of composting. Through the review of quantitative data, the composition of municipal solid waste arising from the two cities was obtained in order to ascertain the potential for composting organic waste fraction of the waste stream. The data showed that the organic fraction of the waste stream of Johannesburg and Lagos are 38% and 50% respectively. The aim of this paper is to examine composting as a sustainable waste reduction strategy in two developing cities in Africa namely, the cities of Johannesburg (South Africa) and Lagos (Nigeria) which have similar solid waste management problems. Recommendations were also made on the sustainability of composting in both cities.