SENEGAL – Société nationale de gestion intégrée des déchets (Sonaged) has added 15 trash truck to its portfolio, strengthening its position in waste collection in Ziguinchor region, Senegal.
The recently acquired fleet comprises 15 refuse trucks, including ten compactors, a mechanical truck, two trailer trucks and two ampliroll trucks, all dedicated to collecting and transporting solid waste.
SONAGED has also acquired seven amplirolls and 13 cubic meter boxes. The equipment will be distributed by sector since the refuse collection is divided into eight sectors in the Ziguinchor region, including one dedicated to the main arteries.
A night shift will also be responsible for cleaning up the Senegalese region’s main market and certain arteries.
With a rotation frequency from Monday to Saturday, SONAGED says that its 134 agents will now be able to collect and dispose of 150 tonnes of solid waste per day, or 3,600 tonnes per month in the Ziguinchor region. This will help to reduce pollution.
The state-owned company plans to take its approach even further by setting up standardized collection points (PRN) and clean collection points (PP) soon.
It will also provide people in inaccessible areas of the Councils in the Ziguinchor region with tricycles for collecting and transporting solid waste.
Sékou Thiam, SONAGED’s delegate for Senegal’s southern zone said: “The Mamatoro landfill, where solid waste from the Ziguinchor region ends up, is full to bursting. So, we must find a site elsewhere, which is a major constraint for SONAGED’s southern division in its day-to-day work.”
The initiative comes when Senegal like many African countries is struggling with solid waste management.
The West African nation, on a daily average, generates around 8,664.4 tonnes of urban solid waste, consisting mainly of fine materials (around 50%), particularly sand.
Municipal solid waste per capita is around 0.5 kg a day. In the Dakar region, waste generation is estimated to be 2,684.5 tonnes a day, or 979,842 tonnes a year.
In 2020, the country secured credit of US$125 million from the International Development Association (IDA) to strengthen its solid waste management system and improve waste management services in selected municipalities, including Dakar.
The total project is expected to amount to US$295 million including co-financing from Agence Française de Développement (AFD) and the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID), as well as additional financing from the Government of Senegal and the private sector, among others.
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