**Acknowledgements**

*Regional Development in Africa*

achieved, action has to be taken.

chains.

business opportunities for the continent.

sector investors. The economic, social and environmental costs of inaction—of doing nothing—far outweigh the cost of implementing waste management solutions on the continent, and if the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development is to be

While the costs of implementing alternative waste treatment technologies is suggested to be in the range of US\$6–42 billion, diverting waste away from dumpsites and landfills towards reuse, recycling and recovery could inject a potential US\$8 billion per annum of resource value into the African economy. This will result in improved livelihoods for informal reclaimers and the creation of new job and

But African countries cannot harness the development opportunity that waste provides, if waste remains scattered, uncollected across our environment, and our towns and cities, and if there is no incentive (political, legislative or economic) to divert waste away from dumpsites and landfills into economically productive value

The African Union has set an aspiration that "*African cities will be recycling at least 50% of the waste they generate by 2023*" [38, 39]. The authors of the Africa Waste Management Outlook fully support the goal of the African Union and believe that even higher rates can be achieved, by developing appropriate collection systems

i.Composting, bioenergy recovery (e.g. anaerobic digestion) or higher value

ii.Reuse and recycling of paper and packaging e.g. plastic, paper, metal, glass

The Africa Waste Management Outlook has set out a vision for Africa to "*Extend regular and reliable waste collection services to all, with safe disposal of residual waste to engineered landfills, while maximizing the recovery of secondary resources from these waste streams through social and technological innovations appropriate for Africa.*"

and end-use markets for the following opportunity waste streams

iii.Refurbishment, repair, reuse, recycling of electronic waste

product recovery (biorefinery) of organic waste

**242**

**Figure 5.**

*Proposed approach to addressing solid waste in Africa [3].*

The authors acknowledge the role of the UNEP (through its Africa Office and its International Environmental Technology Centre—IETC), without whose leadership, the development of the Africa Waste Management Outlook would not have been possible. The financial contribution of the Governments of Japan and South Africa in the development of the Outlook are also acknowledged.
