Title: Waste management in rural South Africa - perspectives from Manfred Max-Neef's human scale development framework

Authors: Rinie Schenck; Derick Blaauw; Charlotte Nell

Addresses: DSI/NRF/CSIR Chair in Waste and Society, Department of Social Work, University of the Western Cape, South Africa ' School of Economic Sciences, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, South Africa ' DSI/NRF/CSIR Chair in Waste and Society, University of the Western Cape, South Africa

Abstract: The impact of limited or non-existing formalised waste management services in rural areas can have severe consequences for both the community and the environment. Unregulated waste management practices often fill the void, such as indiscriminate dumping, littering and burning waste in the open. Using Max-Neef's human scale development theory lens, a case study of a remote rural town in the Free State Province of South Africa was conducted to investigate the linkages and interdependencies between waste management in the town with other poverties experienced by the residents. The results have guided us towards synergic waste solutions and systemic satisfiers to be developed with the communities that can lead to satisfaction in more than one fundamental human need. Waste management solutions as synergic satisfiers should primarily view waste as a potentially valuable resource to enable greater participation in the enhancement of multiple fundamental human needs.

Keywords: waste management; illegal dumping; littering; Max-Neef; fundamental human needs; FHNs; human-scale development; sustainability; South Africa; sustainable development goals; SDGs.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSD.2022.126465

International Journal of Sustainable Development, 2022 Vol.25 No.1/2, pp.30 - 52

Received: 29 May 2021
Received in revised form: 14 Feb 2022
Accepted: 21 Apr 2022
Published online: 26 Oct 2022 *

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