Solid waste, gully erosion and the “literal landfill” in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

According to the research literature, solid waste management in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania is in constant crisis. An ever-growing population; an increase in dense, unplanned settlements; rising income levels; under-funding; and a lack of enforcement of regulations all contribute to pressures on the city's official landfill site and by extension to the continued practice of illegal, localized disposal elsewhere in the city. 11 months of ethnographic fieldwork in the city reveal that the crisis is actually underestimated. This article introduces a new, hereto un-studied, site in the city's waste management system and more broadly to waste management science and Discard Studies – the “literal landfill”. The literal landfill is where communities invite contractors to dump solid waste as a way to fill in gullies caused by soil erosion. This new site then serves to mitigate the crisis in the official waste management system. It also reveals that resolving waste management in Dar es Salaam requires consideration of the broader housing crisis in the city – that has led to construction in unsuitable areas which are prone to gully erosion. The literal landfill also forces a re-think of waste as mass – a lively collective which offers immediate value to residents without need for further processing. • The waste management system in Dar es Salaam faces several compounding challenges. • But research to date has missed a key disposal site in the “literal landfill”. • The Literal Landfill is where gullies caused by erosion are filled with waste. • Improving waste management in the city must address this hitherto unresearched practice. • The practice also questions received ideas about social relationships with waste.