The EAC treaty and illegal dumping of solid wastes an examination of the law and practice in Tanzania

This work examines the law and practice of waste management in Tanzania in relation to the provisions of the EAC Treaty. EAC Treaty is, by the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, international instruments. Therefore, basically the study looks into the adherence of Tanzania to the international waste management principles. This involves both, Tanzanian environmental legislations as well as the practice of waste disposal in Tanzania. Environment is the source of life providing food, clothing and shelter. It can also be a source of injury and death from disease, pollution, starvation, stress and many other problems if environment is not safe, healthy and clean. Urbanization is on the rise in Tanzania, and this trend is expected to continue in the future. Of concern is the inability of infrastructure and planning methods especially for waste management to cope with urban growth. This is particularly urgent in slum areas, which constitute a big part of many of the cities and towns in Tanzania. The gap between waste management policy and legislation and actual waste management practices is widening. Poor waste management practices, widespread dumping of waste in water bodies and uncontrolled dump sites, aggravates the problems of generally low sanitation levels across the country. The fast growing use of ICT and rapid turn-over in technology (particularly computers, mobile phones, etc.) is creating a growing E-waste stream, for which there is very low waste management capacity yet. This leads to disposal of both E-waste stream.