The Compendium of Solid Waste Management in Humanitarian Contexts is a comprehensive, structured and userfriendly manual and planning guide that provides a systematic overview of existing Solid Waste Management (SWM) technologies and approaches appropriate for use in humanitarian contexts. The main target audience is practitioners involved in water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) humanitarian response. They include technical and management staff from governmental, local, national, international and multilateral organisations deployed during emergencies and subsequent stabilisation and recovery activities.
The Compendium of Solid Waste Management in Humanitarian Contexts is part of a series of WASH in Emergencies compendia. The first three compendia focused on the main pillars of WASH – water supply, sanitation and hygiene promotion. This Compendium expands the series, focusing on another key area of WASH: Solid Waste Management.
Like the earlier compendia, it has sought a sector-agreed categorisation and structure. It provides concise information about SWM technologies, planning aspects and cross-cutting issues, drawing on the latest initiatives, materials and evidence. It disaggregates SWM into its functional components, clarifies terminology and provides guidance on identifying the most appropriate solutions in different contexts.
The Compendium of Solid Waste Management in Humanitarian Contexts is primarily a capacity strengthening tool and a reference book, but it also supports the planning, implementation and decision making for designing context-specific SWM interventions. It offers easy access to relevant summarised information about SWM and provides details and links to additional guides and publications where available.
