FROM THE FIELD: Preventing Ethiopia’s trash from going to waste

Workers in safety gear build gabion walls at a landfill site in Ethiopia to stabilize the ground after a landslide.

UN-Habitat/Felix Vollmann Construction workers build gabion structures at the Koshe landfill in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. A total of 162 gabions were built to stabilize the site and control erosion to prevent further landslides.

FROM THE FIELD: Preventing Ethiopia’s trash from going to waste

24 December 2019 SDGs

The rehabilitation of a dumpsite in Ethiopia in which 116 people died following a landslide two years ago, has made the area safer for people working there thanks to support from the UN human settlements agency UN-Habitat.

Medina Hussein, a store keeper at the Koshe landfill in Ethiopia, smiles at the camera. — UN-Habitat/Felix Vollmann

Hundreds of people have typically collected waste for a living on the site in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, but it has always been a dangerous occupation due to the threat of trash piles collapsing and the intense heat given off by decomposing rubbish.

Now, UN-Habitat has been working with the city government and Japanese experts, to manage the site in a more secure and sustainable way.

Read more here about how the Fukuoka Method of waste management from Japan has enabled local people to carry on collecting and selling trash.

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