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State of Waste Management
in Phnom Penh, Cambodia
State of Waste Management in Phnom Penh, Cambodia (Version 2, 2020)
Prepared by:
IGES Centre Collaborating with UNEP on Environmental Technologies (CCET) of
Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES)
Authors: Rajeev Kumar Singh, Dickella Gamaralalage Jagath Premakumara, Ran Yagasa and Kazunobu Onogawa
www.iges.or.jp / www.ccet.jp
Design: Miki Inoue
With support of:
Waste Management Projects Group (COMPED WM) of Cambodian Education and Waste Management Organization
(COMPED)
www.compedcam.org
Copyright © United Nations Environmental Programme, 2018
This publication may be reproduced in whole or in part and in any form for educational or non-profit purposes without special
permission from the copyright holder, provided acknowledgement of the source is made. The United Nations Environment
Programme would appreciate receiving a copy of any publication that uses this publication as a source.
No use of this publication may be made for resale or for any other commercial purpose whatsoever without prior permission in
writing from the United Nations Environment Programme.
Although every efforts are made to ensure objectivity and balance, the conclusions that are reached in this publication should be
understood to be those of authors and not attributed to UN Environment, IGES, or their staff members, officers, directors, trustees,
funders.
State of Waste
Management
in Phnom Penh,
Cambodia
June 2018
ii
Phnom Penh is facing huge challenges in waste management due to population growth, increasing income and
consumption levels, expanding urbanisation and inadequate waste management including lack of proper waste
collection and treatment facilities, technical sta as well as unclear responsibilities among sta members. In this
regard, with the request for support from Cambodia’s Waste Management Division of Phnom Penh Capital Hall
(PPCH), IGES Centre Collaborating with UNEP on Environmental Technologies (CCET) has been providing technical
assistance towards the development of a waste management strategy for Phnom Penh 2018-2035. The strategy is
based on a holistic waste management approach. It addresses all waste streams (solid waste, liquid waste/ wastewater,
and gaseous emissions), primarily focusing on solid waste and but also covering other forms within the mandate of
PPCH. In parallel with above, a quick study was done on Phnom Penh’s existing waste management systems and
current practices including the waste ow, policies and regulations framework, waste management practices
challenges, which provides practical recommendations for PPCH and other stakeholders for sustainable waste
management in Phenom Penh.
The rapid population growth due to industrialisation, and urbanisation in line with the expansion of the city area has
led into a rapid increase in waste production in Phnom Penh. Beside an increase in municipal solid waste, other waste
streams such as hazardous waste, industrial waste, medical waste, construction and demolition waste and agriculture
waste are also increasing causing enormous challenges to the city about proper collection, treatment and disposal of
these kinds of wastes. Moreover, there has been decentralisation of power in the waste sector from the provincial
and district level to local levels, and so local authorities are still unaware of their responsibility and struggle in fullling
their role.
This report conrms that there are many challenges in current waste management in Phnom Penh due to social,
technical, economical and institutional restrains. Therefore, the recommendations set out in this report are very
important for policymakers and stakeholders in waste management in Phnom Penh for improvement of current
waste management.
Executive Summary
iii
Executive Summary …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… ii
Contents …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… iii
List of Abbreviations ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… iv
1. Introduction ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 1
1.1. Background ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 1
1.2. Objectives ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 2
1.3. Analytical Framework ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 2
1.4. Methodology …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 3
2. Overview of Phnom Penh City ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… 4
2.1. Institutional Framework SWM at Subnational Level and of Phnom Penh …………………………………………… 4
2.2. Institutional Arrangement, Roles and responsibilities of Actors in SWM of Phnom Penh …………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 5
3. National and City Waste Management Policies and Legislation ………………………………………………………… 7
4. Municipal Solid Waste Management ……………………………………………………………………………………………… 9
4.1. Generation ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 9
4.2. Waste Composition …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 11
4.3. Waste Collection and Transport …………………………………………………………………………………………………… 11
4.4. Waste Disposal/Final Treatment …………………………………………………………………………………………………… 11
5. Industrial and Other Waste …………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 17
5.1. Industrial Waste ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 17
5.2. Medical Waste ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 17
5.3. Hazardous Waste ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 20
5.4. Construction and Demolition (C&D) Waste …………………………………………………………………………………… 21
6. Financing Solid Waste Management in Phenom Penh ……………………………………………………………………… 24
6.1. Financing Solid Waste Management in Cambodia …………………………………………………………………………… 24
6.2. Financing Solid Waste Management in Phnom Penh ……………………………………………………………………… 25
6.3. Project Financed by RGC and External Stakeholders ……………………………………………………………………… 25
6.4. Royal Government of Cambodia ………………………………………………………………………………………………… 25
6.5. Japan ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 26
6.6. European Union ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 26
6.7. Asia Foundation ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 26
7. Major Challenges and Areas for Improvement ………………………………………………………………………………… 27
7.1. Municipal Solid Waste Management ……………………………………………………………………………………………… 27
7.2. Industrial Waste Management……………………………………………………………………………………………………… 28
7.3. Hazardous Waste Management ……………………………………………………………………………………………………28
7.4. Medical Waste Management ………………………………………………………………………………………………………29
7.5. Construction and Demolition Waste Management ………………………………………………………………………… 29
8. Conclusions and Recommendation ……………………………………………………………………………………………… 31
Bibliography ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 36
Contents
iv
BC Black Carbon
C&D Construction and Demolition
CAP Cleansing Authority of Phnom Penh
CCET IGES Centre Collaborating with UNEP on Environmental Technologies
CEA Cambodia Environmental Association
DAALI Department of Agronomy and Agricultural Land Improvement
DEF Department of Economy and Finance
DOH Department of Health
DOIH Department of Industry and Handicraft
DPWT Department of Public Works and Transport
EDC Electric du Cambodege
EEE Electrical and Electronic Equipment
E-Waste Electronic and Electrical Waste
GHG Green House Gas
HCW Health-care Waste
M/D Municipality and Districts
MOE Ministry of Environment
MoH Ministry of Health
MOI Ministry of Interior
MPP Municipality of Phnom Penh
MPWT Ministry of Public Works and Transport
MSW Municipal Solid Waste
MSWM Municipal Solid Waste Management
MWMU Medical Waste Management Unit
NGO Non-Governmental Organisation
PA Provincial Administration
PAD Pacic Asia Development
PCDD Polychlorinated Dibenzo-P-Dioxins
PCDF Polychlorinated Dibenzofurans
POPs Persistent Organic Pollutants
PPC Phnom Penh Cleansing
PPCH Phnom Penh Capital Hall
PPWM Phnom Penh Waste Management Authority
RGC Royal Government of Cambodia
UEEE Used Electronic and Electrical Waste
UNEP United Nations for Environment Programme
WEEE Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment
WMAD Waste Management Aair Department
List of Abbreviations
List of Abbreviations
1
1. Introduction
1.Introduction
1.1. Background
Waste management is one of the biggest challenges
in developing countries. In particular, developing
countries in Asia have serious environmental and
public health problems due to large amount of
municipal waste being dumped into open dumping
sites, roads, drains, water bodies etc. on a daily basis
without adequate management. Phnom Penh, the
capital city of Cambodia is no exception, and national
and local government are facing similar challenges in
waste management due to population growth,
increasing income and consumption levels, expanding
urbanization and inadequate waste management due
to a lack of proper waste collection and treatment
facilities, technical sta as well as unclear
responsibilities among sta members.
Despite great eorts by the municipality to improve
the waste collection, collection services are only
provided intermittently and are inadequate to cover
the entire urban area of the city. Without segregation
practices, vibrant recycling industry, or a market for
recycled materials, the waste disposal is at a minimum
level, with disposal of valuable resources that could
otherwise be circulated back into the production
chain. Dangkor Landll Site is where most local
municipalities transport and treat collected waste
from households, industries, and hospitals, but the
management is not designed to comply with global
technical standards. Simple pits or large open space
area are commonly used as dumpsites without
appropriate practices such as covering soil, re control
system, methane gas collection, and leachate
treatment. Unsound waste management has
contaminated land, water and air, resulting in serious
impacts on public health, ecosystem and global
climate, as well as threating sustainable development
in the city of Phnom Penh.
From a global perspective, international community
has recently agreed upon two key international
agreements: Paris Agreement, and Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs), which now provide a
framework for local, national, and global policymaking.
Building a low-carbon, resource-ecient sustainable
society is imperative for all cities and countries,
including Phnom Penh, for attaining sustainable
prosperity for its residents, and the waste
management sector can play a substantial role.
In this regard, there was a request for support from
Cambodia’s Waste Management Division of Phnom
Penh Capital Hall (PPCH) to the International
Environmental Technology Centre (IETC) of the United
Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). IETC has
been actively working with national and local
governments and other institutions to build capacity
for waste management and promote the development
of eective policy frameworks and strategies. Further,
the IGES Centre Collaborating with UNEP on
Environmental Technologies (CCET) was selected to
provide technical assistance towards the development
of waste management strategy for Phnom Penh 2018-
2035. The strategy is based on a holistic waste
management approach, which addresses all waste
streams (solid waste, liquid waste/ wastewater, and
gaseous emissions), primarily focusing on solid waste
and also covering other forms within the mandate of
Phnom Penh Capital Authority.
2
Figure 1 Municipal solid waste ow in Phnom Penh
(Source: Authors)
1. Introduction
In parallel with the above, a quick study of Phnom
Penh’s existing waste management systems and
practices was conducted to review the scope and
eectiveness of Phnom Penh’s current waste
management system, and identify key challenges and
gaps. The subsequent ndings were further used to
provide appropriate data for organisation of a series
of participatory workshops and consultations with key
national and local stakeholders, aimed at drafting
Phnom Penh’s waste management strategy that
addresses the city’s waste issues.
1.2. Objectives
This report aims to present the major ndings of a
rapid assessment and series of multi-stakeholders
workshops and consultations carried out during the
period from January 2016 to January 2018. It provides
an overview of Phnom Penh’s current waste
management status, discusses major challenges and
obstacles, and suggests a number of policy
recommendations for Waste Management Division of
Phnom Penh Capital Hall (PPCH) and other key
policymakers to consider for ecient waste
management in Phnom Penh. The report provide
guidance on how Phenom Penh can work towards
promoting sustainable waste management systems.
1.3. Analytical Framework
Ecient and eective waste management is still a
challenge in both developed and developing countries.
Waste management is not only associated with
environmental and health issues but with social,
Informal RecyclingInformal Recycling
Waste Generaon Collecon Final Disposal
Recycling Business
Informal Recycling
3
1. Introduction
political, nancial and governance issues. The report
analyses the current waste management and waste
ow from generation until nal disposal in Phnom
Penh city as shown in Figure 1. The study focus more
on municipal solid waste management. In line with
waste ow, gap analysis was carried out across the
waste management chain with regards to institutions,
policies, nancing, infrastructure, technology and
demarcation of roles and responsibilities among
actors, and this analysis was subsequently used to
determine and address the waste issues in Phnom
Penh.
1.4. Methodology
The report was compiled based on primary and
secondary data collection along with a quick study for
rapid assessment of current waste management of
Phnom Penh and carry gap analysis in existing waste
management system, which was carried out in
January 2016. In addition to literature review,
structured interviews and technical meetings with
relevant stakeholders were conducted, together with
eld visits to relevant waste management facilities.
The study reviews current waste management
practices, waste characterisation, waste ow, future
waste projection, institutional and policy frameworks,
and nancing mechanisms, highlighting the
challenges in the current waste management. Further,
the report provides recommendations to policymakers
of Phnom Penh to overcome the challenges and
manage the waste in more holistic way.
The preliminary ndings were used as a base for
organising series of workshops and consultations with
relevant stakeholders aimed at raising awareness on
current waste management system in the city, as well
as organising technical discussions among the
stakeholders for the city waste strategy development
process. The rst inception workshop was conducted
on 20 October 2016 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia with
the aim of presenting the proposed project framework
and receiving feedback from the participants. The
goal of the workshop was also to highlight baseline
data on the main waste streams in the municipality of
Phnom Penh, and collect stakeholder views on the
extent and eectiveness of the existing waste
management practices from collection to nal
disposal. The workshop also aimed to identify
constraints and move the city towards a resource-
ecient society. A wide range of stakeholders was
invited from central and local governments, academia,
research institutions, development partners, and
NGOs who have been involved in the waste sector.
The organisers prioritised the attendance of
government ocials from Phnom Penh Capital Hall,
Phnom Penh city district (khan) representatives as
well as relevant department ocials from the Ministry
of Environment and National Council for Sustainable
Development (NCSD). All 12 districts representatives
were present at the workshop, which helped the
discussion in the workshop to be more interactive in
reviewing the current waste management system,
identifying challenges and further classifying the
necessary steps for ecient waste management in
Phnom Penh.
Following the inception workshop, there was a series
of consultation and technical discussions and
workshops with the help of Nexus and in cooperation
with Phnom Penh Capital Hall (PPCH) and the Ministry
of Environment (MoE). The ndings of the
consultations are summarized in this report and also
considered in drafting the city waste management
strategy and action plans for Phnom Penh (Yagasa,
2018).
4
(Coverpage-1)
Copyright © United Nations Environmental Programme, 2017
(ii‐1)
Inparallelwithabove,aquickstudyofPhnomPenh’sexistingwastemanagementsystemsandcurrent
practicesincludingthewasteflow,policiesandregulationsframework,wastemanagementpractices
challengesandprovidespracticalrecommendationsforPPCHandotherstakeholdersforsustainablewaste
managementinPhenomPenh.
(v‐1)
CAP Cleansing Authority of Phnom Penh
(vi‐1)
PAD Pacific Asia Development
(vi‐2)
PPC Phnom Penh Cleansing
(vi‐3)
PPWM Phnom Penh Waste Management Authority
(3‐1)
).Thefindingsoftheconsultationsaresummarizedinthisreportandalsoconsideredindraftingthecity
wastemanagementstrategyandactionplansforPhnomPenh(Yagasa,2018).
(36‐1)
Yagasa,R.(2018).TheFinalStrategyFormulationWorkshopfortheDevelopmentofWasteManagement
StrategyandActionPlanofPhnomPenh.
http://www.ccet.jp/events/cambodia_phnom_penh_final_workshop_report
(27‐1)
MunicipalSolidWasteManagement
(28‐1)
thesesub‐decreehasyettobefullyenforcedbythegovernment.
(28‐2)
IndustrialWasteManagement
(28-3)
Hazardous Waste Management
(29-1)
Medical Waste Management
(29-2)
Construction and Demolition Waste Management
(33‐1)
(i.e.,reduce,reuseandrecycle)
(4‐1)
National
Provinces
Districts
Communes
Cities
Khans
Sangakats
National
CapitalCity
Khans
Sangkats
Provinces
Districts
Communes Sangkats
Cities
Sangkats
BeforeAfter
2008
Figure 2 The reform of administrative structure of Cambodia before and after 2008
(Source: Leng, 2013)
2. Overview of Phnom Penh City
Phnom Penh is the capital and largest city of Cambodia
with a population of 1,445,902 as of 2014, with the
annual population growth of 3.97 (Phnom Penh
Department of Planning, 2015). The rapid population
growth due to industrialisation, urbanisation along
with expansion of city area has led to a rapid increase
in waste production in Phnom Penh. Besides the
increase in municipal solid waste, other waste streams
such as hazardous waste, industrial waste, medical
waste, construction and demolition waste and
agriculture waste are also increasing, causing
enormous challenges for the city for proper collection,
treatment and disposal of these kinds of wastes.
Moreover, the city has gradually expanded its
geographical boundary over the years through four
stages (Phnom Penh Capital Hall, n.d.). 1st Stage:
Incorporation of Dangkor District; 2nd Stage: Creation
of Khan Russey Keo; 3rd Stage: Integration of four
villages from Kanthork Commune, 4th Stage;
Integration of 20 communes from ve Districts
(Ponnhear Leu, Mok Kampoul, Khien Svay, Kandal
Steung, Angsnoul) of Kandal Province to Phnom
Penh.
2.1. Institutional Framework
SWM at Subnational Level
and of Phnom Penh
Sub-national Institutional Reform and
Decentralisation in Waste Sector
Sub-national governance of Cambodia experienced
major transformations in the past few decades.
Decentralisation proceeded in two stages: through
the Law on Commune Administration adopted in 2001
2.Overview of Phnom Penh City
5
2. Overview of Phnom Penh City
which granted administrative functions at the
commune level (the lowest administrative layer), and
the institutional reform of 20081 which also promoted
decentralisation at the provincial and district level
(Theng, 2012). As a result, the sub-national
institutional structure drastically changed (see Figure
2) while administrative power and functions were
transferred to the sub-national governments (Theng,
2012; Leng, 2013).
Against this backdrop, decentralisation also
proceeded in waste sector, while cooperative relations
between subnational governments and line ministries
via provincial technical departments were preserved.
As indicated by Min (2016), waste management has
been gaining increased attention in Municipalities and
Districts (M/D) across Cambodia as a priority issue.
However, the level of implementation of waste
management varied among jurisdictions, and many
subnational authorities struggled to full their
expected role. In this context, Sub‐decree on Urban
Solid Waste Management No. 113 issued in November
2015 clarifying M/D’s mandate on solid waste
management at the municipal level with the support
and coordination by provincial administrations.
In the waste sector, the provincial Department of
Environment works on behalf of the Ministry of
Environment without further delegation of its work to
oces at M/D level due to the limited capacity of M/D
line oces. At M/D level, there are two types of line
oces: those under the direct control of M/D
administrations (often understaed and under
resourced) such as the Oce of Finance and
Administration, Oce of Commune/Sangkat Support
and Planning, and Inter-Sectorial Oce; and those
under the control of provincial departments such as
Oce of Environment (Min, 2016).
The above oces are branches of the M/D
administration and their line department to monitor
performance of waste collection company
performance, dissemination of relevant legal
documents and promotion of community awareness,
installation of environmental signs and preparation of
relevant reports to the province and provincial
department of environment (Min, 2016).
2.2. Institutional Arrangement,
Roles and responsibilities of
Actors in SWM of Phnom Penh
Figure 3illustrates the administrative structure of
PPCH, which enjoys a government status equivalent
to other provinces. The council has legislative and
executive decision-making powers to formulate
subnational policies including those relevant to waste
management, and has a responsibility to ensure that
the decisions have been implemented. The Board of
Governors has a mandate of four years to give council
comments, reports and implementation of the council
decision-making.
Of the eight divisions of Phnom Penh Capital Hall
(PPCH), the Waste Management Aair Department
(WMAD) is responsible for implementing waste
management services in Phnom Penh. WMAD has
two main oces: i) Technical Environment Impact
Monitoring Oce and ii) Waste Management
Authority Oce. The Landll Management Authority
is also established by PPCH to be responsible for
operation of Dangkor landll.
In addition, waste management in Phnom Penh is also
supported by municipal technical departments of line
ministries, especially through technical assistance by
1 Sub-national institutional structure was modied under the Law on Administration and Management of the Capital, Province, Municipality, District
and Khan adopted in 2008, which was set in line with the national policy introduced in 2005, which acknowledged the strengthening of the
protection of environment and natural resource at sub-national level to be the country’s long term goal. Before the reform in 2008, the country had
four governance tiers with 20 Provinces and 4 Cities; 171 Districts and 14 Khans; 1510 Communes and 111 Sangkats (Leng, 2013; Royal Government
of Cambodia, 2008).
6
Figure 1 The reform of administrative structure of Cambodia before and after 2008
(Source: Leng, 2013)
(6‐1)
Council
Technical
Coordination
Commision
Procurement
Commission
BoardofGovernors
(1Governorwith6
DeputyGovernors)
AdminDirector
AdminDeputy
Director
AdminDeputy
Director
AdminDepartment
(5Offices)
Planningand
Investment
Department
(4Offices)
Finance
Department
(4Offices)
Urbanization
Department
(2Offices)
HumanResources
Department
(2Offices)
Inter‐Sectoral
Department
(2Offices)
LegalAffairsand
HumanRights
Department
(2Officies)
Waste
Management
AffairsDepartment
(2Officies)
AdminDeputy
Director
Womenand
ChildrenComissionOtherComission
SpecializedDepartments
Figure 3 Administrative structure of PPCH
(Source: MPP, 2011)
3. National and City Waste Management Policies and Legislation
the Department of Environment (DoE), Department
of Public Works and Transport (DPWT), Department
of Tourism (DoT), Department of Industry and
Handicrafts (DoIH), and Department of Health (DoH).
7
Table 1 Policy and legislation related solid waste management
General laws and regulations
National
• Sub-decree on Borey (new house construction area) Management, No. 39 (2011)
Municipal Solid Waste
National
• Sub -Decree on Urban Solid Waste Management, No. 113 (2015)
• Sub-Decree on Solid Waste Managment, No. 36 (1999)
• Inter-Ministerial Declaration of Ministry of Interior-Ministry of Environment on Waste and Solid Waste Managment in
Province/ Municipalities of Cambodia, No. 80 (2003)
City
• Draft Strategy And Methodology For Improving Waste Management And Cleansing, Collection And Transport Of Solid
Waste In Phnom Penh Capital
• Sechkdey Chun Damnoeng (Notication) On Waste Storage, Cleansing, Waste Discharge And Penalties On Improper
Waste Disposal In Phnom Penh Municipality, No. 13 (2013)
• Instruction Plan On The Application Of Penalties To Promote Environmental Sanitation Raising In Phnom Penh
Municipality, No. 09 (2010)
• Instruction Plan On Waste Separation Promotion In Phnom Penh Municipality, No. 08 (2010)
• Sechkdey Nainoam (Instruction) On Penalties On Waste Disposal In Public Area, No. 16 (2010)
Industrial Solid Waste
National
• Guideline on Solid Waste Management at factories, enterprises and companies, No. 11 (2003)
• Guideline on Sludge Waste Management at Factories – Enterprises (2000)
• Directive on Industrial Hazardous Waste Management, No. 87 (2000)
• Sub-Decree No. 446 on the organization and function of the Department of Hazardous Substance Management (2015)
• Declaration No. 387 on enforcement to standard level the amount of toxic or hazardous substance that allow to
abandoned (2015)
City
• Declaration on Industrial Solid Waste Collection and Transport in Phnom Penh and Kandal, No. 148 (2002)
• Declaration on the permission Sarom Trading to collect and transport industrial wastes from Phnom Penh and Kankal
province, No. 156 (2001)
3. National and City Waste Management Policies and Legislation
Policy and legislations that regulate national and Phnom Penh’s solid waste management are listed in Table 1. A new
legislation was adopted in 2015 to improve the eectiveness of solid waste management in the Municipality of
Phnom Penh (MPP). The sentences below in blue and brown represents national and city waste management laws
and regulations respectively.
3.
National and City Waste Management
Policies and Legislation
8
Hazardous Solid Waste, Medical Solid Waste
National
• Sub-Decree No. 446 on the organization and function of the Department of Hazardous Substance Management (2015)
• Declaration No. 387 on enforcement to standard level the amount of toxic or hazardious substance that allow to
abandoned (2015)
Street Dust
City
• Sub-decree on Applying Phnom Penh Land Use Master Plan, No. 181 ( 2015)
E-waste
National
• Sub-Decree of E-waste and Electric Equipment (2016)
Medical Waste
National
• Declaration on Waste Management from Health Care Service in the Kingdom of Cambodia – Ministry of Health (2008)
• Decision on creation of Medical Waste Management Unit, No. 96 of Red Cross Cambodia (2009)
• National Guide on Waste Management from Health Care Service (2012)
(Source: Compiled by Authors based on interview with MOR and PPCH, 2017)
4. Municipal Solid Waste Management
9
Municipal Solid Waste is referred as Urban Solid Waste
in the Sub-decree 113 and this waste includes waste
generated from residents, services or commercial
activities, which do not contain toxic substances or
hazardous waste (Royal Government of Cambodia,
2015).
The history of waste management in Phnom Penh
(Figure 4) represents the transition of service providers
of Phnom Penh’s municipal solid waste management
(MSWM) over the last three decades. After the war,
MSWM was the responsibility of the municipal
cleansing section of the Department of Public Works
and Transport (DPWT) of the Municipality of Phnom
Penh (MPP) which remained as a service provider until
1994 (Seng, Kaneko, Hirayama & Hirayama, 2011).
During this period, household waste was most
commonly burned, buried, or dumped in residents’
backyards, and free land areas, due to the absence of
appropriate and eective MSWM regulations, where
only market waste was collected for ultimate disposal
in an open dumpsite.
In order to address the increasing stress to the city’s
waste management system due to rapid population
growth and subsequent growth of waste generated,
and to reinforce the limited capacity of the system,
MPP outsourced its MSWM service to private
contractors with franchise agreements, which
included collection, transport and disposal of the
municipal waste. The companies were also responsible
for (or entitled to) collecting a fee from those who
received the service. The service providers have
changed repeatedly due to nancial diculties due to
unclear tipping fee criteria, inecient waste collection
and fee collection, and willingness-to-pay for the
service which remained at low level among the
beneciaries (B. Seng et al., 2011).
In 2002, an exclusive agreement was signed between
the Municipality and CINTRI with the term of 49 years,
which gave the operator major responsibilities to
provide garbage collection services (Phnom Penh
Capital Hall - Urbanization Division, 2011). The
company has been successful in covering the cost to
sustain its operations up to the present time, by
collecting service fees from beneciaries (residents,
businesses etc.) through the electricity bill.
4.1. Generation
Phnom Penh generates around 365,224 t/year of
municipal solid waste, with the per-capita-per-day
generation of households in Phnom Penh estimated
to be 0.498 kg based on a population of 1,445,902 in
2015 (K. Seng, 2015).
Figure 5 exhibits the distribution of generated MSW
from each source in Phnom Penh considering six
sources: households, markets, shops, oces,
restaurants, and hotels/guesthouses. Of all the
sources, household waste shared the largest portion
of generated waste at around 55.3% of the total. The
sources of non-household waste varies from the
hotels/guesthouses (16.7%), restaurants (13.8%),
markets (7.5%), to shops (5.4%) and oces (1.4%).
The study concluded that the largest portion of
household waste resulted from the high population
and income compared to other sources (K. Seng,
2015).
4. Municipal Solid Waste Management
4.Municipal Solid Waste
Management
10
Direct operaon under DPWT of MPP unl 1994
DPWT
~1994
Pacific Asia Development (PAD), French contractor with 50 years
franchise agreement. By July 1995, the agreement was cancelled.
PAD
1994-1995
Individual districts took over solid waste collecon service on their own
unl January 1996
Direct operaon by
districts
1995-1996
PPC, a Cambodian company, took over solid waste collecon service on
a temporaty basis unl December 1996
PPC
1996-1996
ENV, a company from the former East Germany, had a 50 years
franchise agreement. ENV decided to leave Cambodia aer the war
erupted in July 1997.
ENV
1996-1997
PSBK Ltd. was inially sub-contrator under ENV. PSBK was asked to
connue the service for easte collecon and dump-site aer ENV. By
January 1998, a 50 years franchise agreement was made between MPP
and PSBK as a monopoly service provider
PSBK
1997-2002
By 2001, the Cleansing Authority of Phnom Penh (CAP) was established
for secondary collecon of the peri-urban area, covering about 1% of
the total populaon of MPP, as well as dump-site management.
CAP
2001-2001
The Phnom Penh Waste Managment Authority (PPWM) was established
in 2001 under the control of DPWT and MPP to oversee SWM in the city
as well as manage landfill
PPWM
2001-2009
Unl 2009, PPWM was dissolved while the landfill has been moving to
new site in Dangakor district, Phnom Penh. Then the new landfill has
been managed under direct control of Phnom Penh Waste Management
Division of Phnom Penh Capital Hall up to the present.
Waste Management
Division
2009-Present
CINTRI (Cambodia) Ltd. bought contractural rights from PSBK in 2002. At
the same me, CINTRI and MPP signed a new 50 years contract on
waste collecon service in Phnom Penh.
CINTRI
2002-Present
Figure 4 Transition of MSWM service providers in PPCH
(Source: Adopted from JICA and MPP, 2005; Seng et al., 2011; Uch et al., 2014)
4. Municipal Solid Waste Management
11
4.3. Waste Collection and
Transport
The private sector plays a critical role in collection and
transport of solid waste. Waste collection rate of the
city was about 83.3% with 839,500 tons of waste going
to Dangkor Landll in 2015.Currently, under the
commission of PPCH, CINTRI is tasked to clean, collect
and transport the city’s municipal waste (The Asia
Foundation, 2016). In 2011, the company’s team
comprised over 1,190 workers for sweeping, collection
and transport operations (JICA and MPP, 2005; Phnom
Penh Capital Hall - Urbanization Division, 2011).
Figure 7 shows that the company has two major
operational divisions: Cleaning Operation and
Collection and Transport Operation. Cleaning
Operation applies manual labour using waste carts,
bins and brooms during daytime and times of less
trac (at night-time, it is risky due to limited security
and safety). There are dierent ways and means of
waste collection and transport, such as using waste
carts, dumpster bins and waste trucks divided into
daytime and night-time for households, public
gardens and markets.
Solid waste management perception and practice are
still problematic in Phnom Penh. Feasible waste
collection system still needs to be improved. To
change people’s behaviour is very hard in order to
improve public hygiene and sanitation of the city.
Although there are, regulations in place on proper
management of waste, people still throw waste
haphazardly around collection points or around roads
as shown in Figure 8.
4.4. Waste Disposal/Final
Treatment
Phnom Penh relies almost entirely on Dangkor landll
4.2. Waste Composition
Figure 6 shows the MSW composition for PPCH in
which organic waste accounted for the largest
proportion of about 51.9% of total waste while the
second and third largest were from plastic and paper
about 20.9% and 9.9% respectively. The remaining
waste was grass and wood at about 2.3%, followed by
glass―1.6%, metal―1.1%, rubber and leather―0.2%,
textiles―2.1%, ceramic and stone―0.5%, other
burnable―5.4%, and other un-burnable―4.1% (K.
Seng, 2015).
Figure 6 Waste composition in Phenom Penh
(Source: K. Seng, 2015)
Figure 6 Waste composition in Phenom Penh
(Source: K. Seng, 2015)
51.9%
20.9%
9.9%
2.3%
1.6%
1.1%
0.2%
2.1%0.5% 9.5%
MSW Compostition
Food/Organic Waste Plastics Paper
Wood Glass Metal
Rubber and Leather Textiles Ceramic and Stones
Others
Figure 5 MSW generated by source in Phnom Penh
(Source: K. Seng, 2015)
Figure 5 MSW generated by source in Phnom Penh
(Source: K. Seng, 2015)
55%
17%
14%
1%
5%
8%
MSW Generation
Households Hotels/Gueshouses Restaurants
Offices Shops Markets
4. Municipal Solid Waste Management
12
site for the nal treatment / disposal of MSW
generated within the jurisdiction. Dangkor landll
site, developed with the assistance by JICA, started
operation in July 2009 following the closure of its
predecessor Stoeng Mean Chey landll site which
reached full capacity.
There is a substantial gap between the annual amount
of waste before 2002 when Stoeng Mean Chey landll
site was in use, and the amount after 2003 using the
new landll site. However, as Figure 9 shows, the
amount of municipal solid waste disposal has
increased over the years. In 2017, the waste disposal
amount at the landll was about 808,530 tonnes per
year.
Dangkor landll has been operated by Dangkor
Landll Management Authority (DLMA) under the
Waste Management Aair Department (WMAD) of
PPCH. The organisational structure at Dangkor
Landll Management Authority is shown in Figure 10.
Total human resources consist of 34 sta in 2014.
Since the site started operations in 2009, the waste
layers in the landll area A (see Figure 11) were covered
with soil for every 4m of waste, as opposed to the
recommended practice put forward by JICA (i) daily
Figure 7 Organization structure of CINTRI
(Source: B. Seng, 2014)
(10‐1)
(11‐3)
CleaningOperationandCollectionandTransportOperation.CleaningOperation
• DirectoperationunderDPWTofMPPuntil1994
DPWT
~1994
• PacificAsiaDevelopment(PAD),Frenchcontractorwith50years
franchiseagreement.ByJuly1995,theagreementwascancelled.
PAD
1994‐1995
• Individualdistrictstookoversolidwastecollectionserviceontheirown
untilJanuary1996
Directoperationby
districts
1995‐1996
• PPC,aCambodiancompany,tookoversolidwastecollectionserviceon
atemporatybasisuntilDecember1996
PPC
1996‐1996
• ENV,acompanyfromtheformerEastGermany,hada50years
franchiseagreement.ENVdecidedtoleaveCambodiaafterthewar
eruptedinJuly1997.
ENV
1996‐1997
• PSBKLtd.wasinitiallysub‐contratorunderENV.PSBKwasaskedto
continuetheserviceforeastecollectionanddump‐siteafterENV.By
January1998,a50yearsfranchiseagreementwasmadebetweenMPP
andPSBKasamonopolyserviceprovider
PSBK
1997‐2002
• By2001,theCleansingAuthorityofPhnomPenh(CAP)wasestablished
forsecondarycollectionoftheperi‐urbanarea,coveringabout1%of
thetotalpopulationofMPP,aswellasdump‐sitemanagement.
CAP
2001‐2001
• ThePhnomPenhWasteManagmentAuthority(PPWM)wasestablished
in2001underthecontrolofDPWTandMPPtooverseeSWMinthecity
aswellasmanagelandfill
PPWM
2001‐2009
• Until2009,PPWMwasdissolvedwhilethelandfillhasbeenmovingto
newsiteinDangakordistrict,PhnomPenh.Thenthenewlandfillhas
beenmanagedunderdirectcontrolofPhnomPenhWasteManagement
DivisionofPhnomPenhCapitalHalluptothepresent.
WasteManagement
Division
2009‐Present
• CINTRI(Cambodia)Ltd.boughtcontracturalrightsfromPSBKin2002.At
thesametime,CINTRIandMPPsignedanew50yearscontracton
wastecollectionserviceinPhnomPenh.
CINTRI
2002‐Present
(12‐1)
(13‐1)
WasteManagement
CleaningOperation
Everyday
Dayshift
Pushcart
GrabageBin
BigEvent
Dayshift
Pushcart
GarbageBin
Collectionand
TransportOperation
Household
Dayshift
Truck
Pushcart
Dumpster
Nightshift
Truck
Pushcart
Dampster
Market
Dayshift
Truck
Dumpster
Nightshift
Truck
Dumpster
PublicPark
Dayshift
Truck
Pushcart
Manager
DeputyManager
(1Person)
Sale'sStaffs
(3Persons)
Security
(12Persons)
Excavator‐
GarbageTrucks
(7Persons)
Repairers
(6Persons)
Assistants
(3Persons)
Adm‐Account
Finance
(1Person)
Figure 8 Improper waste discharge, storage and open burning
(Source: COMPED)
Note: Spray sign mentions waste collection time is at 7:00pm; and punishment of 25$ for improper waste
23
Figure 8 Improper waste discharge, storage and open burning
(Source: COMPED)
Note: Spray sign mentions waste collection time is at 7:00pm; and punishment of 25$ for improper waste
4.4. Waste Disposal/Final Treatment
Phnom Penh relies almost entirely on Dangkor landfill site for the final treatment / disposal of MSW
generated within the jurisdiction. Dangkor landfill site, developed with the assistance by JICA, started
operation in July 2009 following the closure of its predecessor Stoeng Mean Chey landfill site which
reached full capacity.
There is a substantial gap between the annual amountof waste before 2002 when Stoeng Mean Chey
landfill site was in use, and the amount after 2003 using the new landfill site. However, as Figure 9
shows,the amount of municipal solid waste disposal has increased over the years. In 2017, the waste
disposal amount at the landfill was about 808,530 tonnes per year.
20,702
21,050
21,367
240,859
227,910
266,781
324,159
343,657
361,344
393,141
409,335
442,469
492,380
532,371
617,489
681,905
717,435
808,530
AMOUNT
YEAR
MONTHLY DISPOSAL AMOIUNT (T)
4. Municipal Solid Waste Management
13
covering soil of 15cm; (ii) intermediate cover soil of
30cm; and (iii) nal covering soil of 50cm (JICA, 2005).
Figure 12 shows the actual infrastructure of Dangkor
landll status slightly dierent from the original
design by JICA as show in Figure 11. The recommended
management practice was followed until 2010, when
it was discontinued due to serious damage to the site
caused by serious ooding, which also aected most
regions in Cambodia, and resulted in the collapse of
Figure 10 Organizational structure at the Dangkor Landll Management Authority
(Source: Uch et al., 2014)
(10‐1)
(11‐3)
CleaningOperationandCollectionandTransportOperation.CleaningOperation
• DirectoperationunderDPWTofMPPuntil1994
DPWT
~1994
• PacificAsiaDevelopment(PAD),Frenchcontractorwith50years
franchiseagreement.ByJuly1995,theagreementwascancelled.
PAD
1994‐1995
• Individualdistrictstookoversolidwastecollectionserviceontheirown
untilJanuary1996
Directoperationby
districts
1995‐1996
• PPC,aCambodiancompany,tookoversolidwastecollectionserviceon
atemporatybasisuntilDecember1996
PPC
1996‐1996
• ENV,acompanyfromtheformerEastGermany,hada50years
franchiseagreement.ENVdecidedtoleaveCambodiaafterthewar
eruptedinJuly1997.
ENV
1996‐1997
• PSBKLtd.wasinitiallysub‐contratorunderENV.PSBKwasaskedto
continuetheserviceforeastecollectionanddump‐siteafterENV.By
January1998,a50yearsfranchiseagreementwasmadebetweenMPP
andPSBKasamonopolyserviceprovider
PSBK
1997‐2002
• By2001,theCleansingAuthorityofPhnomPenh(CAP)wasestablished
forsecondarycollectionoftheperi‐urbanarea,coveringabout1%of
thetotalpopulationofMPP,aswellasdump‐sitemanagement.
CAP
2001‐2001
• ThePhnomPenhWasteManagmentAuthority(PPWM)wasestablished
in2001underthecontrolofDPWTandMPPtooverseeSWMinthecity
aswellasmanagelandfill
PPWM
2001‐2009
• Until2009,PPWMwasdissolvedwhilethelandfillhasbeenmovingto
newsiteinDangakordistrict,PhnomPenh.Thenthenewlandfillhas
beenmanagedunderdirectcontrolofPhnomPenhWasteManagement
DivisionofPhnomPenhCapitalHalluptothepresent.
WasteManagement
Division
2009‐Present
• CINTRI(Cambodia)Ltd.boughtcontracturalrightsfromPSBKin2002.At
thesametime,CINTRIandMPPsignedanew50yearscontracton
wastecollectionserviceinPhnomPenh.
CINTRI
2002‐Present
(12‐1)
(13‐1)
WasteManagement
CleaningOperation
Everyday
Dayshift
Pushcart
GrabageBin
BigEvent
Dayshift
Pushcart
GarbageBin
Collectionand
TransportOperation
Household
Dayshift
Truck
Pushcart
Dumpster
Nightshift
Truck
Pushcart
Dampster
Market
Dayshift
Truck
Dumpster
Nightshift
Truck
Dumpster
PublicPark
Dayshift
Truck
Pushcart
Manager
DeputyManager
(1Person)
Sale'sStaffs
(3Persons)
Security
(12Persons)
Excavator‐
GarbageTrucks
(7Persons)
Repairers
(6Persons)
Assistants
(3Persons)
Adm‐Account
Finance
(1Person)
Figure 9 Municipal solid waste disposal at landll in Phnom Penh
(Source: Ministry of Environment Cambodia, 2018)
Figure 9 Municipal solid waste disposal at landfill in Phnom Penh
(Source: Ministry of Environment Cambodia, 2018)
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
900
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
Disposal Amount (thousands tonnes)
Year
4. Municipal Solid Waste Management
14
the landll pile in both Area A and B (Uch et al., 2014).
Without the practice of landll soil covering the waste,
hygiene at the site management deteriorated
resulting in oensive odours and breeding of disease
vectors and noxious insects, which especially
intensied during rainy seasons.
Figure 13 shows the initial phase of the landll site
(left) in 2009, and an overview of the site in 2014 with
a waste pile of approximately 8-10m above the rice
eld in elevation (right) (Uch et al., 2014). The life span
of the site tends to be short due to the mixed MSW
brought in without any recycling practice (for instance,
organic content which constitutes the majority of the
MSW accepted at the site) and the absence of on-site
compaction of the waste layers.
Emissions from the landll
The rough estimation of greenhouse gas (GHG) and
Black carbon (BC) emissions at Dangakor Landll was
calculated based on EQT Tool developed by IGES/
CCAC as shown in Table 2. The nding estimates that
the emission of GHG and BC from the landll was
about 59,715 tonnes per year and 101 tonnes per year
respectively in 2015.
Figure 11 Dangkor sanitation landll map designed by JICA
(Source: JICA and MPP, 2005)
25
Figure 11 Dangkor sanitation landfill map designed by JICA
(Source: JICA and MPP, 2005)
4. Municipal Solid Waste Management
15
Figure 12 Overview of the actual landll map in 2014
(Source: Dangkor Landll Authority)
26
Figure 12 Overview of the actual landfill map in 2014
(Source: Dangkor Landfill Authority)
Figure 13 Overview of Landll site in 2009 and in early 2014
(Source: COMPED)
28
Figure 13 shows the initial phase of the landfill site (left) in 2009, and an overview of the site in 2014
with a waste pile of approximately 8-10m above the rice field in elevation (right) (Uch et al., 2014).
The life span of the site tends to be short due to the mixed MSW brought in without any recycling
practice (for instance, organic content which constitutes the majority of the MSW accepted at the site)
and the absence of on-site compaction of the waste layers.
Figure 13 Overview of Landfill site in 2009 and in early 2014
(Source: COMPED)
Emissions from the landfill
The rough estimation of greenhouse gas (GHG) and Black carbon (BC) emissions at Dangakor
Landfill was calculated based on EQT Tool developed by IGES/CCAC as shown in Table 2. The
finding estimates that the emission of GHG and BC from the landfill was about 60,144 tonnes per
year and 96 tonnes per year respectively in 2015.
Table 2 Summary of the GHG/SLCP emissions from Dangkor Landfill Operation in 2015.
Description
Technology
Unit
CH4
BC
CO2
N2O
Waste Collection
and transportation
by city
Transportation
0
1
8,085
0
Composting
Anaerobic
digestion
Treatment for
separate waste
Recycling
0
0
0
0
MBT
Incineration
Treatment for
mixed waste
Landfilling
903,365
8,379
4,072,921
0
Uncollected waste
Open burning/
Kg/month
(unit ‘kg’ used
here to show
the magnitude
of small
amount of
emissions)
27,396
0
0
2009 2014
4. Municipal Solid Waste Management
16
Table 2 Summary of the GHG/SLCP emissions from Dangkor Landll Operation in 2015
Description Technology Unit CH4BC CO2N2O
Waste Collection and
transportation by city
Transportation Kg/month
(unit ‘kg’ used here to
show the magnitude
of small amount of
emissions)
0 1 8,085 0
Treatment for
separate waste
Composting
Anaerobic digestion
Recycling 0 0 0 0
Treatment for mixed
waste
MBT
Incineration
Landlling 903,365 8,379 4,072,921 0
Uncollected waste Open burning/
scattered
27,396 0 0
Net emissions per monthly generated waste Tonnes/month 931 8 4,081 0
Net BC emissions per monthly generated
waste
Tonnes of BC/month 8.38
Net climate impact from other GHGs per
monthly generated waste
Tonnes of CO2 eq/
month
30,142.34
(Source: COMPED)
5. Industrial and Other Waste
17
This section provides an overview of Phnom Penh’s
current waste management system for industrial solid
waste and other waste which includes: i) Hazardous
Solid Waste; ii) Medical Solid Waste; and iii)
Construction and Demolition Solid Waste.
5.1. Industrial Waste
Industrial solid waste refers to the solid waste
remaining or generated from production activities of
factories or enterprises, which do not contain toxic
substances or hazardous waste (Royal Government of
Cambodia, 2015).
In Phnom Penh, the industrial solid waste collection
(including sludge from wastewater treatment plants)
from factories such as garment factories, leather
factories, plastic factories and paper factories by
Sarom Trading Company to the industrial landll
located in Por Sen Chey district, Phnom Penh (formerly
name in Phum Chambok, Khan Kombol, Srok
Angsnuol, Kandal Province). However, specic data
on industrial waste generation, or collection and
disposal at Sarom’s industrial landll is not available.
The company received a permit to collect and
transport industrial waste; and to construct an
industrial landll which is located in Phum Chambok,
Khan Kombol, Srok Angsnuol, Kandal Province. As
stated by MOE, the company must comply with the
law on environmental protection and natural resource
management, as well as with the sub-decree on the
environmental impact assessment process.
However, in reality addition to industrial waste,
hazardous waste and medical waste is also disposed
at Sarom Industrial Landll as below (Ministry of
Environment, Cambodia, 2002):
• Semi-dry muddy waste removed from euent
treatment pools
• Coloured bres and pieces of fabrics
• Plastic waste containing Polyvinyl Chloride
• Rubber waste and vulcanised rubber containing
Polymer-Butilin
• Batteries and battery waste
• Left over ashes after the burning of medical waste
• Electronic waste
• Paint waste lacquer and packaged materials
• Insecticide waste used in agriculture and in
packaged materials (must be placed in a rubber tub
before being dumped)
• Waste resulted from production and utilisation of
printing ink
• Expired or sub-standard goods
• Waste resulted from production of medicine and
expired medicines
• Waste containing asbestos substance
5.2. Medical Waste
According to the Declaration on Waste Management
from Health Care Service in the Kingdom of Cambodia,
medical waste is dened as the waste from the health
care sector such as public and private hospitals, health
centres, clinics, and medical laboratories (Ministry of
Health, 2008). Medical waste handling is classied
into two types: i) General waste including oce
5. Industrial and Other Waste
5.Industrial and Other Waste
18
residues, kitchen waste, etc. and ii) Health-care waste
including infectious waste (esh, bandage, blood,
etc.), sharp waste, pharmaceutical waste, chemical
waste, radioactive waste, etc. (MOE, 2014).
Medical waste has traditionally been treated (or
improperly treated) in a decentralised manner: waste
was incinerated in major hospitals, although the
practice was often discontinued due to problems from
limited maintenance and high fuel price, while the
majority of waste generated in many private clinics
was mixed with MSW and disposed. Currently, medical
waste management of Phnom Penh city is managed
by Red Cross Cambodia, which provides collection,
transportation, intermediate treatment and nal
disposal.
As of 2011, there are eight national hospitals in Phnom
Penh City, 24 provincial referral hospitals, 64 district
referral hospitals, 1,097 health centres, as well as 87
health posts located throughout the country according
to Department of Hospital Service (Project
Coordination Unit, 2014), all generating medical
waste.
The total amount of medical waste generated is about
40t/month in Phnom Penh, consisting infectious
waste, pathological waste, sharps (i.e. knifes and
syringes) and pharmaceutical waste (Choeu, 2016).
The quantity of medical waste is increasing with the
expansion of medical services (Figure 14).
As shown in Table 3, national hospitals in Phnom Penh
produced the four most common categories of HCW
including infectious waste, pathological waste, sharps
and pharmaceuticals waste (Department of Hospital
Services, 2006). Infectious waste shares the highest
amount of about 33kg/day.
The Medical Waste Management Unit (MWMU) was
created under Red Cross Cambodia branch (Phnom
Penh) in 2009 to provide services from collection to
transport and treatment of medical wastes generated
in Phnom Penh. Medical waste is separated and stored
at respective health care centres, collected by the
MWMU, transported by trucks (Figure 15 (a)) to the
incineration plant located in Khan Dangkor,
approximately 12 km from Phnom Penh City Centre.
The facility covers about one hectare of land area, and
Figure 14 Amount of collected annual medical waste
(Source: Choeu, 2016)
Figure 13 Quantity of collected annual medical waste
(Source: Choeu, 2016)
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
Annual Amount (tonnes)
Year
Annual Medical Waste
5. Industrial and Other Waste
19
in located next to the municipal landll (Choeu, 2016).
All of the trucks are equipped with GPS in order to
ensure ecient operations (Figure 15 (b)). There are
three types of collection containers including, safety
plastic bag (Non-PVC), safety sharpness box (recycle
paper) and safety bin being used for medical waste.
However, the waste separation practice is still limited
for some health care centres and many times, it is
found that medical waste is mixed with kitchen waste
or ordinary waste.
Treatment of medical waste includes incineration,
chemical treatment and wastewater treatment. At
MWMU, medical wastes are incinerated at the
temperature of up to 1200 degree Celsius using
dierent incinerators as shown in the Figure 16.
Table 3 Average amount of health care waste generated from National Hospitals in Phnom Penh
(Source: Department of Hospital Services, 2006)
Health
Care
Facilities
Infectious Waste Pathological Waste Sharps Pharmaceutical Waste
Kg/day L/day Kg/day L/day Box/day Kg/day L/day
National
Hospitals
33.22 1.85 14.83 1.46 12.43 20 0.1
Figure 15 Collection trucks for medical waste (a) and sample of GPS track record for collection of medical waste (b)
(Source: Choeu, 2016)
Resource of MWMU (Continue)
6/18/2018 Medical Waste Management Unit 5
Resource of MWMU (Continue)
6/18/2018 Medical Waste Management Unit 5
(a) (b)
5. Industrial and Other Waste
20
5.3. Hazardous Waste
Hazardous waste includes any substances which are
radioactive, inammable, infected, oxidation, toxic or
other chemical materials (Royal Government of
Cambodia, 2015). The new sub-decree No. 113 Annex
classies and regulates the following hazardous solid
waste generated from households, public institutions,
commercial facilities, industrial and tourism sectors.
• Battery waste
• WEEE/e-waste
• Bottle glass waste or cans spoiled with chemical or
agricultural pesticides
• Old vehicle tires
• Used oil
• Waste from paint, dye and respective containers
• Waste from printing ink
• Asbestos waste
In addition, MOE also regulates the management of
hazardous waste from other sources such as factories,
handicrafts, agriculture and mining.
Further, a rapid increase in e-waste has been observed
in Phnom Penh and this amount is expected to grow
rapidly as shown in Table 4, which projects the
generated e-waste in Phnom Penh from 2009 to 2019.
Many types of second-hand EEE such as monitors,
printers, keyboards, CPUs, typewriters, projectors,
mobile phones, PVC wires, etc. are imported to
Cambodia from various countries. These goods come
in all models and sizes, which contain both functional
items and junk materials also known as e-waste /
WEEE. In terms of weight, TVs are expected to show
the biggest increase followed by PCs, refrigerators, air
conditioners, washing machines and mobile phones
(Ministry of Environment Cambodia, 2009).
Waste pickers and dismantlers play a pivotal role in
the collection of e-waste through the market. Waste
items are generally purchased from generators for
reusable components or material recycling. Valuable
components are sold to scrapyard owners for export,
and non-valuable components are removed and
disposed of as domestic waste. According to 2015
report of Ministry of Environment Cambodia, the
amount of e-waste exported from Cambodia to
Singapore, one of the major destination countries,
came to approximately 3,514 T in 2013 and 1,588 T in
2014.
When there is no waste-collection service, e-waste is
brought in, disposed of and incinerated improperly at
sites close to or behind the repairing/dismantling
Figure 16 Incinerator Model FSI-150 (left); Incinerator Model LDF-500 (LDF-100) (right)
(Source: Choeu, 2016)
Resource of MWMU (Continue)
2.3. Incinerator Assets
6/18/2018 Medical Waste Management Unit 9
Incinerator LDF-500 (LDF-100)
Ìncinerator FSI-150
Resource of MWMU (Continue)
2.3. Incinerator Assets
6/18/2018 Medical Waste Management Unit 9
Incinerator LDF-500 (LDF-100)
Ìncinerator FSI-150
5. Industrial and Other Waste
21
shops (MOE Cambodia’s Technical Working Group,
2013).
Approximately 3% of residues generated from
dismantling, separating and/or sorting process is
disposed of, while the remaining 97% is sold to local
recycling shops or transported to other recyclers on
demand. However, a CEA survey in 2007 found that
80% of e-waste is sold for recycling (MOE Cambodia’s
Technical Working Group, 2013).
Lack of understanding among operators and
junkshops owners on the negative environmental and
health impacts of improper treatment / disposal is
resulting in the release of hazardous substances from
e-waste.
In 2004, Cambodia conducted a survey on 23 Persistent
Organic Pollutants (POPs), which included 12 POPs
conventionally registered. Moreover, there were 11
POPs additionally registered in 2013 utilising the
UNEP guidance and quantication Toolkit for
unintentional POPs (version 1 issued in 2003) in order
to full the reporting duty under the Stockholm
Convention, aiming for eventual phase-out of POPs
and minimal human and environmental consequences.
This survey was also conducted to achieve Goal No. 7
of the Cambodia Millennium Development Goals
(CMDGs) as well as the current Royal Government
Policy on poverty alleviation (Project Coordination
Unit, 2014) in which management of POPs was
strategically positioned.
5.4. Construction and Demolition
(C&D) Waste
Construction and Demolition (C&D) waste most
commonly includes paper/cardboard, garden/
vegetation, wood/timber, carpets, other textiles,
rubber, glass, plastics, metals, hazardous waste,
ceramics, soil/rubble, cobbles/boulders, clean soil,
concrete, plasterboards, bricks, asphalt/bitumen,
cement sheet, insulation and others (UNEP, 2009).
Management of C&D waste in Phnom Penh is currently
at the development stage whereby some generated
waste is collected, treated and disposed of by the
private sector on a contract-basis, some is sold to
buyers for reuse (soil, rubble and rock), while other
waste is dumped on open land or in remote public
areas (based on eld observation). There are pressing
concerns about the shortage / lifespan of landll sites
and Phnom Penh limiting waste acceptance at nal
E-waste
Items/E-
waste
Fractions
2009 2019
Reusable Recyclable Residues Reusable Recyclable Residues
TV 980.54 792.05 131.37 5,517.54 4,456.88 739.24
PC 1,706.69 964.62 59.39 2,247.85 1,270.48 78.23
MP 26.17 14.22 2.69 90.38 49.09 9.30
Refrigerator 548.70 387.79 62.97 1,716.15 1,212.87 196.94
Air
Conditioner
490.83 377.56 19.99 1,908.53 1,468.10 77.72
Washing
Machine
525.39 175.13 175.13 842.30 280.77 280.77
Table 4 Projected E-waste fraction (metric tons)
(Source: Ministry of Environment, 2009)
5. Industrial and Other Waste
22
landll sites, partially resulting in illegal disposal as
shown in Figure 17. Lack of basic data is posing another
challenge, making it dicult to delineate the state of
the city’s C&D waste management system.
There is no ocial national data or investigation on
the exact amount of C&D waste generated. Waste
generation can generally be estimated based on the
types of property (single family residential; multi-
family residential; and commercial & non-residential)
with square footage based on the available data.
However, such data is not disclosed in Phnom Penh.
UNEP (2009) suggests that waste sampling for
estimating C&D waste quantity and composition can
take place either at landll sites (sampling from
vehicles entering the waste disposal site) or at
construction and demolition sites. The study
conducted a rapid construction waste composition
assessment with sampling at several C&D sites in
Phnom Penh, and roughly estimated the waste
composition: about 60% broken brick, rock, left-over
cement and soil; 20% wood; 10% metal; 5% plastic;
5% paper and other waste. Waste sampling at landll
sites was not feasible as no public sites received C&D
waste in Phnom Penh according to the landll
authority of the city, making it dicult to obtain
reliable gures on waste generation and waste
composition.
Landll site allow the disposal of non-residential bulk
waste as shown in Figure 18. It is to be collected and
transported by private contractors to the landll
occasionally.
37
Figure 16 Generation of C&D waste
(Source: COMPED)
Landfill site allow the disposal of non-residential bulk waste as shown in Figure 17. It is to be
collected and transported by private contractors to the landfill occasionally.
37
Figure 16 Generation of C&D waste
(Source: COMPED)
Landfill site allow the disposal of non-residential bulk waste as shown in Figure 17. It is to be
collected and transported by private contractors to the landfill occasionally.
Figure 17 Generation of C&D waste
(Source: COMPED)
5. Industrial and Other Waste
23
Collection and disposal of C&D waste is a major
challenge for generators and authorities alike. Sub-
decree 113 (Urban Solid Waste Management)
stipulates the responsibility of generators of C&D
waste and contractors for proper waste management
as below:
• Properly store C&D waste to avoid impacts on the
public order and environment
• Clean, collect and transport C&D waste by their
own means to urban municipal landll or use the
service of the local urban waste collection company.
The sub-decree also allows C&D waste to be brought
in to public landll sites for nal disposal. However, in
practice, C&D waste is not accepted by landll sites in
Phnom Penh as the city attempts to preserve / extend
the lifespan of the site, unless brought in by
contractors. As a result, while some C&D waste is
reused / recycled (only pure bricks, soil, rock and
stone) upon demand, mixed C&D waste with no
market value is in most cases illegally dumped along
the Mekong river or openly burnt if it consists of
combustible components (Figure 19).
38
Figure 17 Bulk waste for disposal
(Source: COMPED)
Collection and disposal of C&D waste is a major challenge for generators and authorities alike. Sub-
decree 113 (Urban Solid Waste Management) stipulates the responsibility of generators of C&D
waste and contractors for proper waste management as below:
Properly store C&D waste to avoid impacts on the public order and environment
Clean, collect and transport C&D waste by their own means to urban municipal landfill or use the
service of the local urban waste collection company.
The sub-decree also allows C&D waste to be brought in to public landfill sites for final disposal.
However, in practice, C&D waste is not accepted by landfill sites in Phnom Penh as the city attempts
to preserve / extend the lifespan of the site, unless brought in by contractors. As a result, while some
C&D waste is reused / recycled (only pure bricks, soil, rock and stone) upon demand, mixed C&D
waste with no market value is in most cases illegally dumped along the Mekong river or openly burnt
if it consists of combustible components (Figure 18).
Figure 18 Illegal dumping and open burning of C&D waste
(Source: COMPED)
Figure 19 Illegal dumping and open burning of C&D waste
(Source: COMPED)
Figure 18 Bulk waste for disposal
(Source: COMPED)
37
Figure 16 Generation of C&D waste
(Source: COMPED)
Landfill site allow the disposal of non-residential bulk waste as shown in Figure 17. It is to be
collected and transported by private contractors to the landfill occasionally.
5. Industrial and Other Waste
24
6.1. Financing Solid Waste
Management in Cambodia
Cambodia’s SWM system has been facing signicant
challenges over the last several decades. In this
context, the country’s Fundamental Law on Solid
Waste Management (Sub-decree No. 36 on Solid
Waste Management (1999)) regulates all activities
related to storage, collection, transport, recycling,
and disposal of household and hazardous waste
(Sang-Arun, Heng, & Al., 2011). In addition, another
inuential complementary regulation is Cambodia’s
Inter-ministerial Declaration (Prakas) No. 80 (2003)
which was written with a view towards improving the
responsibility of concerned authorities and involving
relevant institutions for promoting the ecient
implementation of solid waste management in the
country’s provinces and cities.
Due to lack of detailed regulations, standards and
guidelines, limited capacity of personnel and
budgetary constraints of the public sector, private
sector actors in Cambodia are serving a central role in
addressing gaps in waste management. For instance,
local authorities frequently outsource waste collection
and transportation services to private companies.
Moreover, most waste collection companies have
negotiated with central and subnational governments
on provision of services based on prot margin
calculations associated with waste fee collections
(Min, 2016). Such calculations typically involve an
identication of waste sources and on this basis
estimating beneciaries’ level of willingness-to-pay
for waste services. Funding for waste management is
thus derived from user fees, which is set based on the
specication and tenant category of the building,
including type of residence number of oors, etc. as
well as whether the waste sources are from business
establishments, supermarkets, clinics, schools,
universities, etc.; notably, however, user fees are not
calculated based on waste volumes.
Accordingly, Min (2016) estimates that actual service
fees may range between USD 0.8 to USD 30 per
month, observing that there is no standardised,
customary formula for calculating taris uniformly
applied in all circumstances; indeed, some cases have
been reported where beneciaries have been charged
in excess of taris set by regulatory authorities2. In all
other M/Ds waste taris are determined strictly on
basis of the type of business or residence concerned.
Private companies contracted to deliver waste
management services are expected to provide
residential waste collection, without relying on
subsidies or nancial support from either local or
national government. However, many contractors
continue to encounter issues with cost recovery from
waste collection, as some residents are not willing to
pay for such services. This has resulted in
environmental challenges including some of the
waste being either burned or dumped in public spaces,
residential areas, or on private land.
In some M/Ds, private collection companies have no
recourse but to develop private landll sites: this has
been observed in cities such as Battambang, Siem
Reap, and Champong Cham. Although authorised by
provincial or national authorities, such
6. Financing Solid Waste Management in Phenom Penh
6.Financing Solid Waste
Management in Phenom Penh
2 In many urbanised municipalities, waste collection fees for 4-5 star hotels could be up to 20 times higher than the set tari fee.
25
privately-owned facilities tend to operate without
following environmental protocols, demonstrated for
example through the use of open pits, the lack of
requisite liners, leachate collection and/or treatment
systems, as well as frequent open burning of waste.
6.2. Financing Solid Waste
Management in Phnom
Penh
A signicant share of Phnom Penh’s waste
management services are nanced by the private
company CINTRI, which provides collection and
transportation of MSW based on user fees ranging
from USD 1.00 to USD 100. Service fee collection can
be considered nominally successful as such taris are
included in private electricity bills, following
cooperative agreement reached between CINTRI and
the Electric Department of Phnom Penh City (Electric
du Camnodge (EDC) (Sang-Arun et al., 2011).
However, CINTRI’s service model continues to face
issues in terms of achieving overall nancial
sustainability; although service fees adequately
nance waste collection and transport services, at
present there are not sucient funds to cover
additional costs of operations such as street cleaning
and nal disposal. Consequently, CINTRI’s street
cleaning service is not meeting expected performance
levels, with coverage unable to further expand to
other areas of the city without a corresponding
increase in revenue.
The company’s household waste collection operations
are also experiencing diculties, faced with the need
to improve overall performance by, for instance,
increasing salaries of its sta, while at the same time
addressing criticisms from its users regarding
unsatisfactory services received— despite their
limited awareness about appropriate waste practices
and involvement in formal decision-making processes.
Accordingly, local authorities have been considering
eliminating CINTRI’s fee contained in users’ electricity
bills aimed at avoiding public complaints directed at
EDC. In this regard, as fees from waste collection
represent the main source of funding for the
company’s waste management services, the removal
of service fee is expected to pose a negative impact on
the nancial sustainability of CINTRI’s operations
from diminishing income, and consequently result in a
further deterioration of the quality of Phnom Penh’s
waste collection service.
Moreover, the nancial viability of the Dangkor landll
site, operated and managed by PPCH, another issue
of concern. Currently, the site charges a disposal fee
of USD 1.00 for every ton of waste brought onto its
premises. However, an analysis of Dangkor landll site
conducted by JICA (2005) suggested that for managing
the sanitary landll to a satisfactory level would
require increasing the disposal fee to USD 4.4/t with
additional grant assistance, or USD 5.92/t without the
grant assistance (JICA and MPP, 2005).
6.3. Project Financed by RGC and
External Stakeholders
The Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC) has
allocated national budget towards projects intended
to build capacity in the country’s waste sector;
similarly, several donor countries and NGOs have
provided technical assistance to RGC, Phnom Penh
City and other local stakeholders aimed at enhancing
Phnom Penh’s waste management system. The
section briey describes the projects conducted both
at the national level as well as in Phnom Penh.
6.4. Royal Government of
Cambodia
In 2015, Cambodia’s Ministry of Environment issued
6. Financing Solid Waste Management in Phenom Penh
26
its Circular Decree on the Implementation of
Environmental and Hygiene Service Programme,
aimed at improving solid waste and wastewater
management for a total of 26 cities across the country.
Listed under the national budget as per the Ministry of
Economic and Finance, the overall funding of this
programme is 5,000 million Riels (USD1.25) for 2015,
planned to increase to 9,000 million Riels (USD 2.25)
in 2016.
6.5. Japan
Starting in 1997, the Government of Japan has
provided several grants to the RGC aimed at enhancing
solid waste management in Cambodia. Such funding
has been utilised for conducting the following
activities, among others:
• JICA study on Solid Waste Management in the
Municipality of Phnom Penh (2003-2005)
• JICA project on solid waste management
improvement for the municipality of Phnom Penh
including capacity building and infrastructure
development (October 2006 – March 2008)
The primary objective of these projects was to
strengthen Phnom Penh’s waste management system
in terms of collection and nal disposal (B. Seng et al.,
2011). In addition, a percentage of the allocated
capital USD 13.9 million was also directed towards
improving the city’s waste management infrastructure
(Phnom Penh Capital Hall - Urbanization Division,
2011). However, this initiative was terminated in 2008
due to the fact that certain conditions of support
stipulated by JICA, including modication of PPCH
and CINTRI service contract3 were not fullled (JICA,
2008 in (B. Seng et al., 2011)).
6.6. European Union
The EU-founded project under the framework of
ASIA-PRO-ECO-Program was also designed to build
the capacity of waste management actors in
Cambodia including MOE, MoH, PPWM, CINTRI, as
well as to develop technical guidelines on solid waste
management in close cooperation with concerned
ministries. The completed guidelines include
procedures for the development of waste
management master plans, the management of bio-
waste, the design and operation of landlls, the
management of medical waste as well as address
issues concerning public education on appropriate
waste practices (MOE Cambodia & COMPED, 2006).
In this regard, the guidelines support the principle of
the 3Rs for promoting conservation and protection of
natural resources and environmentally sustainable
development, while encouraging the development of
waste management plans to this end.
6.7. Asia Foundation
In 2014, with support from the Asia Foundation, a pilot
project was conducted in the district of Khan Daun
Penh in collaboration with CINTRI and PPCH. The
project aimed to optimise waste collection operations
through strategic use of GPS and GIS systems with a
view to monitor the movement of CINTRI trucks and
the collection of kerbside solid waste.
7. Major Challenges and Areas for Improvement
3 The proposed modication included 1) expansion of CINTRI’s service area from 3,000 households currently covered to 18 communes in the suburban
Phnom Penh, and 2) revision of the tipping fee to secure the appropriate operation cost.
27
The ndings from baseline assessment, discussions in
workshops and technical meetings with relevant
stakeholders states that there are signicant
challenges in waste management sector in Phenom
Penh. Some of the key challenges in waste
management sector are stated below:
7.1. Municipal Solid Waste
Management
The rapid increase in waste generation in Phnom Penh
is an acute problem due to increasing population and
urbanisation as well as expansion of the administrative
boundaries of the city, and also leads to public health
issues. Cleanliness, sanitation and MSWM issues in
Phnom Penh are experienced widely across MPP both
in urban and satellite areas. Most residents have a
limited general awareness and understanding about
correct waste and sanitation methods, and improper
waste disposal practices (e.g. piles of waste
accumulating on the ground or in the streets) are
widely observed. Poor waste separation at source
represents the main obstacle to promoting eective
waste reduction and recycling activities and as such is
driving many MSW challenges, especially at nal
disposal sites (contributing to problems including
open pit dumping, and other environmental issues
due to lack of liners, soil cover, treatment of leachate,
etc.).
In addition, waste services provided by private
companies continue to practice mixed collection,
transport and disposal of MSW, especially with regard
to hazardous, medical and industrial waste. Local
authorities are experiencing diculties in locating
suitable areas for nal disposal sites of MSW due to
gaps in the technical and managerial capacity of
competent authorities, including in areas such as
construction, waste treatment, and operation and
management of landlls. A recent report by the
Ministry of Environment (MOE) indicates that waste
collection has fallen short of expectations and
attributes this to a lack of capacity and insucient
funding of authorities in the waste management of
the city (Pang 2016). According to CDRI working paper
2016, a senior MOE ocial states that the three
challenges needing serious attention are: 1) renovation
of the governance structure for waste management;
2) strategy to reduce, reuse and recycle waste; and 3)
strengthening waste collection and transport.
Further, there is limited available data on solid waste
management in Phnom Penh such as data related to
illegal dumping, total recycled waste volumes,
number of recyclers and recycling operations.
Therefore, diculties arise when trying to accurately
assess waste management systems and practices in
the city. Furthermore, there remain notable
inconsistencies in the data on Phnom Penh
Municipality issued by dierent sources.
Although a number of regulations on waste
management have been issued, these have yet to be
prioritised and local competent authorities are often
unclear on what should be enforced in lieu of the
central government. In addition to Sub-decree No. 36
on Solid Waste Management adopted on 27 April 1999
and Inter-Ministerial Prakas of MoI and MoE No. 80 on
Solid Waste Management in Provinces/ Municipalities
in 2003, Sub-decree No. 113 (August 2015), there has
been transfer of specic functions of waste
7. Major Challenges and Areas for Improvement
7.Major Challenges and Areas for
Improvement
28
management from sector ministries to municipal and
district administrations such as Khans and Sangkats.
However, Phnom Penh was not a targeted municipality
for receiving national funding to improve solid waste
management practices in line with this Sub-decree.
Further, the Khans and Sangkaths are still unaware of
their responsibility in waste management despite the
transfer of responsibility from central government.
Although the Inter-ministerial Working Group Decision
to Discuss and Facilitate on Garbage and Urban Solid
Waste Management Task Transfer, No. 1070 dated on
12 November 2015 and Inter-ministerial Circular on
the Implementation of Sub-decree No. 113 on Garbage
and Urban Solid Waste Management, No. 1070, dated
on 12 November 2015, have been implemented, these
sub-decree has yet to be fully enforced by the
government.
7.2. Industrial Waste
Management
Challenges in Industrial Solid Waste
The industrial factories are mainly clustered in Phnom
Penh and nearby provinces as well as other areas.
Data estimations on waste volumes are only available
in terms of solid waste collection rates measured in
cubic metres, the majority of which is garment/textile
waste. Total volumes of marketable waste, sold by
respective factories, is not available.
The waste collection fee set by Declaration No. 148,
Annex 2 of the Ministry of Environment Cambodia,
2002 is currently not achievable and this limits the
ability of the private sector to eectively manage and
operate waste service companies focused on
collection, transport and proper treatment of
industrial waste as well as future expansion to other
provinces. According to the current inspection
procedure, factories are required to be notied in
advance, although MOE faces challenges in
coordinating and implementing eective monitoring.
Many industries do not properly store and manage
their waste (for example, frequently mixing industrial
waste with general waste) requiring high physical
exertion on the part of industrial waste worker to
collect, load and transport the waste by vehicle. This is
because industrial waste treatment requires high
investment capital, current overall safety performance
remains inadequate (i.e, collection, disposal and
leachate management is limited). At the same time,
reuse and/or recycling for some waste categories exist
both for local consumption or export including cloth
scraps, paper, and metal.
Due to a limited number of competent ocers with
technical and legal understanding concerning
industrial waste management, improvements in
monitoring and inspection capacities are required
both at the national and provincial levels, with a clear
demarcation of responsibilites. This would ensure
more accurate assessment of the impacts of the
industrial sector and enable environmental laws to be
enforced more eectively (Chea, 2016). Environmental
violations are primarily committed outside of working
hours (at night) and holidays, and searches to identify
guilty parties are not yet conducted in any systematic
manner (Chea, 2016).
7.3. Hazardous Waste
Management
Public participation of relevant stakeholders in Phnom
Penh concerning proper management of hazardous
waste remains limited, especially in terms of
awareness among consumers (business as well as
households). In addition, national and local authorities
lack technically competent ocers to monitor and
enforce sound hazardous waste management
7. Major Challenges and Areas for Improvement
29
practices. There are also limited regulatory measures,
technical guidelines, methods and budget for
implementation of hazardous waste management.
Although various studies on e-waste management in
Phnom Penh have been conducted, there have not
been many pilot projects focused on e-waste,
especially recycling. An absence of reliable
information/data, expertise and expertise on the
proper management of e-waste, including laws
concerning source generation, relevant rules on EEE/
UEEE imports and health risks and hazards associated
with handling and disposal should be circulated in
MPP. Laws and guidelines on formal collection and
transportation on e-waste collection and
transportation are lacking. Further, Cambodia lacks
the requisite technology for testing the safety of
imported e-waste, and thus requires tools, resources
and capacity for examining safety issues with regard
to imported electronics equipment/ devices/
instruments, etc.
Regarding POPs, there is very limited awareness/
knowledge concerning how to address unintentionally
produced POPs in MPP. Information available on
POPs between sectors diers; some have enough
information, but some have little or no information.
There is inadequate information on chemicals, POP-
related products, as well as POPs contained in various
materials and residues due to improper database
management by the relevant organisations. Most of
the time, dierent stakeholders in hazardous solid
waste including the private sector, do not want to
share data/information. Therefore, there is no
transparent information on the dierent kinds/
amount of hazardous waste produced and how the
waste is managed. On other hand, dissemination of
information, education and knowledge on proper
management of hazardous waste is not widely
conducted.
Local enterprises are seen to be contributing to the
generation of POPs with the release of PCDD/PCDF
resulting from: (i) open burning of electric cables by
waste pickers and junkshop owners; (ii) combustion of
waste piles at dumpsites. These actions are beyond
the competence of authorities and may lead to serious
environmental and human health impacts. This is
mostly because the specic legislation/regulation for
PCDD/PCDF management has not yet been
developed.
7.4. Medical Waste Management
In Cambodia, most health care service providers mix
medical waste with the municipal waste which is
thereafter collected by the Medical Waste
Management Unit (MWMU). In the case of Phnom
Penh, MWMU is experiencing major issues concerning
the level of willingness to pay among health care
service providers. Payments of collection fees are far
below existing waste taris (ranging from 20% to
35%) and therefore eorts have been made to increase
the fee on an annual basis. This is a factor when
considering upgrading and expanding medical waste
management to other M/D in other provinces,
especially with regard to the separation of medical
waste from domestic/household waste. In addition,
high investment capital is required for managing
medical waste treatment facilities, including operation
and maintenance costs.
7.5. Construction and Demolition
Waste Management
There is insucient data/information concerning the
volume of generated C&D waste and its composition.
According to existing regulations, C&D waste
management only comprises collection from
construction sites, where such waste is required to be
7. Major Challenges and Areas for Improvement
30
properly stored in a designated areas, as well as nal
disposal. At present there are no legal instruments or
guidelines focused on the management of C&D waste.
C&D waste is currently classied as municipal waste;
however, waste generators are responsible for
transporting the waste to the municipal landll site
and are required to outlay addition fees for the
disposal of C&D waste. Because the formal collection,
transport and disposal of C&D waste is not practiced
in MPP, there is wide confusion about procedures with
regard to nal disposal. Accordingly, because C&D
waste may be substantial in volume, it can create
challenges for municipal authorities tasked with
management and disposal (UNEP, 2009). At the same
time, C&D waste also contains high amounts of
recyclable materials, such that if appropriate
regulations exist, a large percentage of the waste
could be recycled easing pressure on nal disposal
facilities (UNEP, 2009).
8. Conclusions and Recommendation
31
This study nds that waste management is a great
challenge in Phnom Penh and there are many gaps
and shortcomings in the current waste management
system. As highlighted in this study, the promotion of
holistic waste management in Phnom Penh, continues
to be constrained by an increasing volume of waste,
lack of data and information on current waste
management systems, unsatisfactory waste
management services, limited infrastructure, unclear
responsibility by concerned authorities, unavailability
of waste treatment technology as well as poor
management among households and businesses.
Aside from the solid waste that is collected and
transported to assigned landlls, much of the city’s
waste is disposed of by open burning and dumping,
which poses risks to the environment and the wider
public. Mismanagement of waste, including the lack
of source separation, the mixing of domestic and
hazardous waste, and the lack of eective recycling
and treatment facilities thus remains a major obstacle
for Phnom Penh’s continued development.
As there are no proper regulations on dierent kind of
solid waste, Phnom Penh must tackle a range of policy
challenges in this regard. For instance, the
development of legal instruments including detailed
guidelines and regulations on hazardous waste,
industrial solid waste, medical waste and C&D waste
are required to encourage due diligence on the part of
waste generators. Similarly, there is no specic
legislation or regulation in Phnom Penh aimed at
minimising and/or halting the release of
unintentionally produced POPs, apart from the
National Environmental Law and relevant sub-
decrees. Likewise, the city has a limited number of
regulations to separate, collect, treat and promote
the use of organic waste in commercial production.
The development of a national legislative and
institutional framework for waste management has
been in progress following the issue of Sub-decree
No. 113 on Urban Solid Waste Management; the
provision of new regulations, tools, and technical and
nancial support aimed at empowering local
authorities to address MSWM have also been ongoing
since 2015. However local authorities are still unaware
of their responsibility in waste management due
improper communication and guidance between
central government and local government based on
authority transfer.
As documented above, a number of gaps and
challenges were identied both in terms of availability
and accuracy of existing data on solid waste in Phnom
Penh for all dierent kinds of solid waste, and some
recommendations were proposed to manage the
waste using a more holistic approach as listed below.
Identifying gaps and recommendations holds
implications for this study as well as pointing out the
need for developing a city waste management
strategy.
Recommendations for
Appropriate Municipal Solid
Waste Management
• Future assessments of waste management should
take into account the number of internal migrants
from other provinces/cities as well as tourist arrivals
in population estimates in order to avoid
misinterpreting waste collection rate gures and
other data.
8. Conclusions and Recommendation
8.Conclusions and
Recommendation
32
• Basic information on waste activities should be
made publicly available; this would be particularly
helpful in attracting future investments to the
sector. Disseminating lessons learned and good
practice examples from other countries would be
useful for enhancing information and knowledge
sharing.
• Although various studies have been conducted on
municipal solid waste management in Cambodia,
especially targeting main cities and municipalities,
there is a general desire among local authorities to
support the development of pilot or demonstration
projects with the potential for addressing current
MSWM issues, including in the areas of waste
reduction, improved collection service, promotion
of source separation and waste recycling.
• Local authorities should be supported by clear
regulatory instruments and delegated appropriate
responsibilities for waste management including
through incentives and other means.
• Guidelines and incentives should be developed
aimed at improving implementation and operations
of the existing MSWM system as needed, supported
by sucient political will and the commitment of
all stakeholders, to be carried out by the responsible
local authorities.
• Upon implementation of Sub-decree No. 113, town/
municipality and district-level administrations
should be granted appropriate responsibilities for
managing solid waste management. A requisite
coordination mechanism should be developed
outlining clear institutional roles and responsibilities
to increase the overall eectiveness of solid waste
management in MPP.
• Future capacity development activities should
focus on improving the capabilities of administrative
sta, waste collection companies, municipalities
and ministries. Such activities should be carried out
with recognition of existing institutional hierarchies
and structures, emphasising the ecient
organisation and administration of waste
management particularly at MPP level to enhance
coordination between national and municipal
actors.
• Local environmental oces should be granted the
authority to enforce laws independently, without
Ministry authorisation, in order to more eectively
engage with local communities and support their
needs.
• Community-based environmental education
measures should be developed and implemented
accordingly, including integration of waste
management topics in educational curriculum,
capacity building of religious authorities and
disciples during festivals, and media campaigns
broadcasted and disseminated via newspapers,
internet, social media and television, such as
awareness raising on appropriate hygiene and
sanitation practices in low income and vulnerable
communities.
• Penalties for waste violations, such as open
dumping of waste on fallow land, streets, rivers,
etc. should be initiated and enforced without delay,
with transparent mechanisms to encourage the
involvement and support of the wider public.
• Continued awareness raising, together with eorts
to strengthen the capacity of institutions and law
enforcement shall be conducted to encourage
behaviour changes of the general public.
• Case studies with clear examples of lessons learned,
especially with regard to landll construction,
operation and management should be widely
disseminated.
• Community-based solid waste management
practices should be directed by responsible actors
(i.e., municipal authorities, community leaders and
other concerned stakeholders) starting with a focus
on addressing public complaints with regard to
existing waste management services. This activity
should include the creation of a public hotline for
citizens to describe specic waste issues and
problems (location, time, etc.) which the
designated authorities would seek to address with
practical measures aimed at changing behavior,
8. Conclusions and Recommendation
33
such as educating the public about waste
prevention. Such an initiative could subsequently
be followed by campaigns aimed at promoting
waste separation at source once appropriate
recycling facilities have been established.
• Government should support and encourage the
development of waste recycling facilities to
advance green business initiatives.
• Landlls should more widely take into consideration
safety measures concerning the protection of
human and environmental health. Further, the life
of a landll would be signicantly increased if waste
is separated at source, and if composting is carried
out for organic waste, as well as using a compactor
at the landll to manage the waste.
• Government and CINTRI should consider sustaining
the current scheme for waste service fee collection
through EDC in order to maintain the current level
of income, while optimizing the dierentiated fee
system based on the weight and payment capacity.
The awareness raising activities by the government
targeting waste generators on the waste
management and promotion of 3R will also play an
important role to this end.
Recommendations for
Appropriate Hazardous Waste
Management
• There should be development of pilot or
demonstration projects aimed at improving the
e-waste management systems and practices (e.g.
waste separation at source, separate collection,
recycling and so on) to get skills and knowledge for
proper waste management of hazardous waste by
dierent stakeholders.
• Institutional capacity and awareness of national
and local authorities should be further enhanced on
relevant international legislation and guidelines on
e-waste management, including for example the
Basel Convention, with a view towards
strengthening and enforcing national policies (for
instance, Sub-decree No. 16 on Management of
Electrical and Electronic Waste; Declaration on
Permit Standard Setting of Toxic or Hazardous
Substances Discharged).
• The development of training workshops and
dissemination of information to the public
regarding various type of EEE/e-waste substances
is also recommended, including but not limited to
the following topics:
▪ Implementation of the 3Rs related to e-waste
(i.e., reduce, reuse and recycle)
▪ Sound management of e-waste
▪ Impact assessments on waste with regard to
environmental, health and economic factors
▪ Analysis of various materials associated with
e-waste (especially toxic and hazardous
substances in EEE)
▪ Occupational health and safety of waste
operators
• E-waste recycling should be invested in, with a
view to both recovering valuable materials and
resources as well as raising awareness on the
avoidance of hazardous pollution through
improved waste prevention practices.
• Developing and implementing training workshops
and disseminating information to the public on the
following:
▪ Drivers and eects of various types of POPs
▪ Improvement of MRV for accounting for POPs
by concerned stakeholders
▪ Environmental sound POPs management
• Importance of developing relevant legislation/
regulation for PCDD/PCDF management and
enforcing credible accountability mechanisms in
the private sector in line with improvements
inbusiness performance
• Development and enhancement of appropriate
technology to reduce impacts of POPs
• Importance of public engagement and support for
pollution prevention and treatment
• Promotion of inter-ministerial and cross-sectoral
8. Conclusions and Recommendation
34
cooperation with clearly identied roles and
responsibilities
Recommendations for
Appropriate Industrial Waste
Management
• Eorts to enhance accountability with regard to
industrial solid waste management should target
both the private sector and responsible authorities
to encourage more environmentally sound
industrial development in Cambodia.
• Declaration No. 148 should clearly highlight
opportunities for marketing reusable and recyclable
materials produced by the factories.
• Legal instruments regarding industrial inspection
procedures should be improved upon including by
enhancing response mechanisms to violations
committed by factories.
• MOE should make eorts to coordinate and guide
factories in proper waste separation practices;
strong enforcement of waste separation would
assist waste collection companies in improving the
quality of service provision.
• Evaluate opportunities to raise industrial waste
collection fees to levels comparable to existing
taris set by MOE with a view towards enhancing
the capacity of waste collection and treatment
companies to improve the quality of service
provision.
• The government should take a more active role in
providing technical guidance and support towards
improving conditions of industrial landll sites.
Recommendations for
Appropriate Medical Waste
Management
• The separation of medical waste at source should
be further promoted and enforced by law.
• MWMU should work towards progressively and
incrementally increasing waste collection fees
year-by-year, with a view to more eectively
investing in the expansion of incineration facilities
for the treatment of medical waste.
• Phnom Penh MWMU should be promoted as a
centre of excellence aimed at raising the awareness
and building the capacity of relevant stakeholders
and medical waste treatment operators in other
provinces and cities.
• Attention should be paid to eorts aimed at
increasing the number of medical waste treatment
facilities in line with the expansion of the city,
recognising that citizens may complain about
pollution generated by the incineration plants in
the future.
• Replacement incinerators should be more user-
friendly, as well as easier to maintain, and should
make use of reliable appropriate technologies.
Recommendations for
Appropriate Construction and
DemolitionWaste
• Private C&D waste collection service providers,
including individual workers, should be registered
with a view towards formalising employment in the
sector. This should include regularly reporting data
on estimated collection amounts in order to better
support oversight and management by the public
sector.
• Guidelines on C&D waste management and
treatment should be developed, which focus on
mandating the recovery and reuse of C&D waste ,
and enforcing prohibitions on open burning of C&D
waste.
• Existing regulations designed to stop open burning
of C&D waste should be implemented and enforced
without delay, as combustion of C&D waste may
release toxic pollutants to the environment with
corresponding impacts on human health. Health
8. Conclusions and Recommendation
35
inspectors should work towards monitoring and
evaluating pollution levels in cooperation with local
communities and encourage public participation in
legal proceedings targeting polluters.
• Hazardous substances contained in C&D waste
should be disposed of separately, clearly
communicating precise guidelines that specify
separate treatment of C&D waste from municipal
waste. In addition, dissemination of information on
proper C&D waste management practices and
related outreach activities should be conducted
targeting service providers and other relevant
stakeholders.
8. Conclusions and Recommendation
36
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State of Waste Management
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