Assessing SWM services and gathering key baseline information is an essential step in developing an effective waste management strategy. For this, the recommended framework is the Integrated Sustainable Waste Management (ISWM) as it includes all the critical elements of a functional and sustainable SWM service. The ISWM includes the physical components of the service chain as well as its governance, including financial sustainability, stakeholder inclusivity X.2 and the legal and regulatory framework X.1. 

The Humanitarian Aid Solid Waste Assessment and Improvement (HAWAI) guideline is a practical and structured framework to assess and improve collection, transport, disposal, and organics and recyclables management through three key entry points:

Risk Assessment: a systematic approach to identify critical hotspots, prioritise immediate actions and pinpoint deficiencies requiring longer-term solutions.

Systematic Analysis: a thorough evaluation of each stage within the SWM system to identify weaknesses and make tailored recommendations for improvement.

Service Implementation: step-by-step guidance to establish or expand SWM services, ensuring sustainable and context-appropriate solutions.

Practitioners are encouraged to use this tool to implement data-driven, context-sensitive solutions. Data collection methods for an SWM assessment include: key informant interviews with local officials and waste sector actors, direct observation and transect walks, household surveys on waste practices, waste audits to analyse composition and a review of existing reports and data. Below, essential elements of an SWM assessment included in the HAWAI guidelines are described.

Existing SWM Systems, Infrastructure, and Legal Framework

Existing SWM systems, infrastructure, legal frameworks and key stakeholders should be among the first aspects to be assessed in the early phase of a humanitarian response. The technology sheets support the mapping of collection and transport (section  C ) as well as evaluating the condition and capacity of treatment (section  T ) and disposal facilities (section  U ) to enable a good understanding of the current management system. Identifying existing informal or formal recycling or reuse and disposal actors is also necessary, as they can be key partners in a SWM system. Connecting with existing local SWM stakeholders and authorities X.2 early on is important as they are essential for any handover and exit strategy. Where possible, the focus should be to support and strengthen existing waste management systems rather than create parallel structures. 

In addition to an evaluation of the existing SWM system, the local and national strategies, policies, standards and regulations X.1 should also be reviewed as it is essential to develop SWM systems that are compliant with the institutional and regulatory environment. 

Stakeholder Analysis

Map all the stakeholders relevant to SWM to ensure inclusivity, tailored solutions and good coordination. Mapping provides a list of potential actors who can support the assessment of the SWM system, including local authorities and municipal services, the informal sector, community leaders and residents, private waste management companies and other humanitarian actors that interlink with SWM such as WASH, logistics, shelter, health, settlement planning and livelihoods X.7. Identifying previous SWM service providers is key as they will have crucial experience and information available and can play a central role in the assessment. The affected population may include former waste managers or workers; they should be recruited or involved as their knowledge and experience can be key to improving or establishing new SWM systems. Coordination with other humanitarian sectors and local authorities is crucial to avoid duplication of effort and ensure alignment with broader response strategies X.7. Active community engagement is essential, involving affected populations in the assessment process to understand their priorities and leverage local knowledge X.2. Part of the process is to plan for the longer term, such as continuous operation and maintenance requirements, organisational issues and handover strategies that may include managing a (gradual) withdrawal of funds from external donors, early collaboration with local authorities, cost-recovery and the need to strengthen local capacity.

Health and Environmental Risk Assessment

An early evaluation of potential environmental and public health hotspots helps define priority actions (use HAWAI guidelines). Mapping the interaction between vulnerable elements such as water sources for drinking or irrigation or drains at risk of clogging and exacerbating floods and mismanaged waste can highlight the hotspots which need immediate action. Additionally, the direct public health threats of open dumping U.10 or open burning U.11 in the vicinity of where people live or work need to be assessed. This risk assessment will identify priority actions to protect public health and the environment. Existing assessment tools, such as the Nexus Environmental Assessment Tool (NEAT+) (which includes a specific module on WASH) can be utilised to identify and evaluate solid waste issues linked to specific interventions and to consider appropriate mitigation measures. Given the often volatile nature of humanitarian contexts, a phased approach may be necessary, addressing immediate needs while planning for longer-term sustainable solutions.

Waste Generation and Composition

A critical step of the assessment is to carry out a waste audit to characterise the amount and composition of the waste generated and requiring management. This data will inform the design and decisions about the SWM system. For municipal solid waste, the audit is commonly done of households and non-household waste generators (institutions, commercial and the public). The process involves characterising the waste at a representative number of waste generators for a week. As waste composition and generation can vary seasonally, it is advisable to repeat the waste audit in different seasons. Although waste audits are recommended to gather more accurate data, they cannot always be undertaken. In these cases, secondary information can provide estimated waste generation rates and composition by, for instance, gathering existing data from similar contexts. The SPHERE Handbook proposes an instant estimate of waste generation of 0.5 kg/person/day. This value is a rough first estimate and does not provide information about waste composition. The value can be used in contexts where no data is available and there is no time to perform a waste audit but should not be used for longer-term planning or the design of waste infrastructure requiring precise data.

Evaluating and Improving the Efficiency of the Service

An in-depth assessment of service quality and efficiency is important to optimise service provision, reduce costs, ensure public health is better protected and guarantee the sustainability of the service. The HAWAI guidelines can support the assessment of each stage of the SWM service: collection and transport  C , treatment and recycling  T , use and disposal  U . The special case of self-management of waste in sparsely populated rural areas where service provision is not desirable or feasible is also covered in the guidelines. Assessing the efficiency of the service requires an analysis of the service chain from start to finish, focusing on how each step is linked to the next. For example, assessing the efficiency of waste collection and how the waste is loaded onto trucks requires an analysis of the loading time per stop, worker productivity, bin accessibility and truck capacity utilisation amongst other efficiency elements. The HAWAI guidelines allow for a comprehensive evaluation and guides practitioners by describing possible improvements for each stage of the SWM service chain. Improving the waste management service can also free up resources to expand to unserved areas. 

The HAWAI guidelines also provide step-by-step guidance when planning and designing new services from zero or for expanding existing services to new areas.

Forecasting in Waste Management

Planning SWM systems considers both current waste generation and composition and forecasting for the long term. Anticipated changes in population or consumption levels are significant factors that will change waste characteristics and quantities. Hence, it is important to understand the context and possible future scenarios early in the development of waste management services and solutions. This is challenging in humanitarian settings as the movement of populations can be unpredictable. Nonetheless, when possible, consideration of higher-capacity infrastructure (such as larger waste disposal sites) is advisable to meet increased future demand.

Available Resources and Financial Sustainability

Resources are required to run an SWM system. An assessment of the resources available for SWM at the current moment and in the future is essential. This includes financial resources as well as human resources and technical expertise, vehicles and equipment, infrastructure and land for waste management facilities. Waste management will always incur costs, so plan for the longer term as early as possible, facilitating the handover when humanitarian actors leave X.1. The technologies (see technology section) indicate the anticipated costs for each technology as well as more detailed information on their operation and maintenance requirements.