**7. Integrationamong actors for waste separation and 3R's principle's**

The partnership mainly among municipalities, private providers and households is essential for sustainable SWM. However, the FGD revealed that there is a missing link among these actors in all the study cities. Out of 40 companies surveyed, 32 admitted that they have never had meetings with households, whereas eight companies said they used to have a few meetings with households.

When interviewed, CAA and CADs officials in the study cities contended that they advised households via the local governments (Kebele) to use micro-enterprises for primary SWC and carry out waste separation. However, they admitted that they did not schedule for discussion and communication between the community and the SMEs as well as private companies. It is the government which pays and monitors the SWC system. Households do not own the process. Moreover, health extension workers participated in the FGD mentioned that there has not been integration among government sector offices such as health office, municipalities and private providers. It was also discussed that CAA and CADs are supposed to ensure co-operation among the actors to implement waste separation and the 3R's principle's.

For the FGD participants, the design and operation of SWC are managed in a topdown approach. There is a by-law for waste separation and 3R'sat CAA and CADs level. However, the SWC system including the service payment for private providers is not subject to this by-law. The role of actors to implement the by-law is overlooked. Consequently, households do have less participation in the scheme. The lack of awareness is the major contributory factor for the failure of most SWM schemes [41]. Post and Obirih-Opareh [42] report that to make SWC services more sustainable, consulting residents about the most appropriate methods of collection, i.e. affordability of materials for waste separation and cost sharing is important.
