TOCICO

Our experience and lessons learnt in using the theory of constraints (TOC) to bring about radical improvement in the provision of solid waste management services in African cities are described in this session. We held initial meetings in all cities (5 day workshop). A wide selection of stakeholders participated, resulting in large groups (50-80). Attendees included: municipal employees, legislators, law enforcement city counselors, ministry of environment, waste management authority, refuse contractors, civil society, private sector / corporations, media, and academia. Collection of the distribution solution is the inverse of the distribution solution. The principles involved in organizing effective solid waste refuse collection is modelled on the TOC distribution solution by establishing an inverse distribution system. Principles remain the same except that you are pulling the material back into the aggregated center (dumpsite) instead of distributing it. Frequency of collection is an important factor (too infrequent and health risks rise, too frequent and collection costs are too high). Small amounts brought to aggregation points using the most effective and inexpensive methods (wheelbarrows and push carts). Route planning and correct sizing of vehicles for each area and for the city as a whole is very important. Utilization of existing vehicles is low (30% or less). Exploiting existing resources can double capacity.