Mitigating solid waste menace in urban Africa through sustainable attitudinal change

Urban waste management interventions have prioritised generic urban areas, with limited focus on the unique dynamics of Central Business Districts. This study draws on a qualitative exploratory design, empirical observations and literature reviews to explore the critical challenges of solid waste management (SWM), demonstrate the uniqueness of solid waste in Central Business Districts (CBDs), and propose a Sustainable Attitudinal Change (SAC) framework to aid SWM in urban Africa. The study found that CBDs have complex waste generation dynamics driven by diverse user groups with fluid behaviours that generate high volumes of inadequately managed waste. The results indicate widespread and indiscriminate disposal practices. Although waste management interventions, ranging from public-private partnerships, policy-driven solutions, technology, and circularisation, are evident, the behavioural approach to waste management is under-reported. Therefore, this comment proposes a Sustainable Attitudinal Change (SAC) framework as a complementary mitigating intervention for Africa’s urban waste crisis. This framework repositions waste as a socio-economic resource rather than a nuisance, emphasising the need for households, businesses, and institutions to foster sustainably conscious practices through attitudinal change. The operationalisation of the framework advocates for the prioritisation of antecedent and consequential behavioural strategies as complementary to infrastructure, accessibility, coordination, policies, and law with a centralised and decentralised system to drive long-term attitudinal shifts in SWM using CBDs as the strategic entry points. Thus, SAC moves SWM discourse beyond disjointed interventions to more comprehensive initiatives which centre attitudinal change.