Household solid waste management in Cotonou, Republic of Benin

Household waste management is on the move in Benin. In Cotonou, the country’s economic capital, institutional management of solid household waste has evolved. The days when waste was managed by COGEDA and the town hall’s DST have been replaced by a new era of institutional management led by SGDS SA. Despite the modernization initiated in the new context of household waste management in the sector, environmentally-unfriendly management practices are still observed in households. This state of affairs is undermining household solid waste pre-collection activities in the area, and compromising the recently implemented modernization system. This book zooms in on these practices, from the days of municipal waste management to the new era. It shows that the way solid waste is stored in households continues to suffer from the existence of unsuitable ordinary garbage cans in place of the approved garbage cans strongly recommended by SGDS SA.