Gestion des ordures ménagères solides et salubrité dans la ville de Kekem

Abstract

The urban phenomenon in Cameroon is today characterized by demographic growth and spatial extension to the detriment of basic urban services such as water, electricity, sanitation (solid waste collection in particular, etc.). The demographic boom due to natural growth and rural exodus has an impact on the production of household waste inherent in human activities related to the nutritional, sanitary, clothing, cosmetic, educational and cultural needs of this large population. It is in this context that the issue of "solid household waste management and salubrity in the town of Kékem" was addressed. The objective was to show how the management of household waste is an obstacle to sanitation in the town of Kékem. To achieve this objective, we started from the main hypothesis that poor waste management increases insalubrity in the town of Kékem. To verify this hypothesis, the hypothetico-deductive method adapted to this study was used. This method, based on various sources, but also on a survey of 110 households, enabled the initial hypotheses to be compared with the reality on the ground in order to obtain the results contained in the three chapters. From these various field investigations, it emerged that the current household waste management system is insufficient for most of the households surveyed, as no recycling or recovery system or even a technical landfill centre has been set up. Thus, to get rid of waste, people dump it either in gullies, waterways, or on the side of the road, and some resort to incineration. As the sanitation systems are rudimentary, the image of the city is disfigured; the environment is degraded by atmospheric pollution and the health of the population is also degraded by the proliferation of flies and rodents, which are real vectors of diseases such as malaria, typhoid fever, diahrroea, amoebiasis, and skin diseases (scabies). Faced with this very worrying situation for this booming city, many efforts are being made by the population to improve hygiene and sanitation practices. It should be noted that waste management in the town of Kékem is limited to collection and dumping by the municipal service. In order to strengthen the action of the various stakeholders responsible for waste management, we proposed solutions aimed at improving the living environment of the populations and better, efficient and sustainable salubrity in the said commune.