Study title

This data set records mismanaged waste in off-grid neighbourhoods lacking essential services in two cities, namely Greater Accra in Ghana and Kisumu in Kenya. The underlying study aimed to quantify mismanaged waste patterns and composition in both cities and evaluate the extent to which environmental transect surveys could be used to quantify mismanaged waste in off-grid urban settings. Two surveyors independently recorded scattered waste items, burnt waste piles, and large waste piles along transects repeated at different times of day. Findings suggest that scattered waste density is considerably higher in Kisumu than in Greater Accra and that products such as nappies and water packaging are locally important waste components. Bland and Altman analysis suggests high inter-observer variation in scattered waste counts, but strong agreement between observers in recording waste piles.According to WHO/UNICEF, whilst 91.8% of urban households in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) had access to piped or protected groundwater sources in 2015, only 46.2% had safely managed water available when needed. Vendors provide a key role in supplying urban off-grid populations, with consumption of bottled or bagged water (sachets, water sold in 500ml plastic bags) growing in SSA. Whilst several studies show bottles and bags are usually free from faecal contamination, given that many off-grid urban populations lack solid waste disposal services, when people drink such water, there can be problems disposing of the plastic bags and bottles afterwards. This project aims to deliver evidence on the different ways that people sell water to off-grid populations and what this means for plastic waste management. We plan to do this in Ghana, where most urban household now drink bagged water, and by way of contrast, Kenya, where the government has banned plastic bags. In this way, we want to widen access to safe water and waste management services among urban off-grid populations, by supporting...