When I first came across the research paper Designing a Circular Economy Governance Framework for Urban Waste Management in African Megacities, one name immediately stood out, Zamathula Sikhakhane Nwokediegwu. The study was detailed, rigorous, and boldly pragmatic, presenting a vision that linked engineering precision with social governance. I reached out to meet the author, curious to learn more about the mind behind the framework that had started to circulate among environmental researchers and policymakers alike.
Zamathula, a civil engineering researcher and scholar based in Durban, South Africa, greeted me with quiet confidence. Her words carried the same clarity as her writing—grounded, technical, and purpose-driven. “I wanted to move beyond the usual narrative that waste management is a technical or municipal problem,” she told me. “It’s not only about trucks and bins. It’s about systems, governance, and accountability. Waste is not a failure of technology; it’s a failure of coordination.”
Her study, co-authored with Nigerian and UK collaborators, was published in the International Journal of Multidisciplinary Evolutionary Research in 2021. The paper has since attracted attention across academic and policy circles for its structured approach to one of Africa’s most persistent urban challenges. It proposes a governance framework that could enable cities to transition from outdated, linear waste systems—defined by collection and disposal—to circular systems built on prevention, reuse, and recovery. “We designed this framework to be practical,” she explained. “It’s not theory for the shelf; it’s a guide for policymakers.”
As a civil engineering scholar, Zamathula’s expertise lies in the intersection of infrastructure design and environmental systems. Her approach blends engineering with governance, showing how effective coordination can make technical systems perform better. “Infrastructure cannot exist in isolation,” she said. “If you build landfills or recycling plants without policy alignment and stakeholder engagement, they will fail. Governance is the invisible structure that makes everything work.”
Her research identifies five pillars that form the backbone of a functional circular economy governance system: policy integration, multi-actor collaboration, regulatory and incentive mechanisms, institutional capacity building, and legal reform. Each is treated not as a theory but as a measurable component of an engineering-like design. “Engineers are taught to think in systems,” she noted. “I applied that mindset to governance. A broken policy system is like a weak bridge—it collapses under pressure.”
The research was motivated by Africa’s accelerating urbanisation. According to the United Nations, the continent’s urban population will exceed 700 million by 2030, growing by nearly 40,000 new residents daily. The World Bank reports that Sub-Saharan Africa generates roughly 174 million tonnes of municipal waste annually, expected to double within a decade. Less than 11 percent is recycled or properly treated. “The numbers were alarming,” she told me. “But what alarmed me more was how disconnected the response was. Technical projects were happening, but governance was lagging. Everyone was working in silos.”
Her model examines African megacities such as Lagos, Nairobi, and Durban, where governance fragmentation undermines waste systems. Different departments control sanitation, health, and environment, often without coordination. Lagos produces more than 13,000 tonnes of solid waste daily, but only 40 percent is formally collected. In Nairobi, regular collection reaches only 45 percent of residents, while 60 percent of households in Accra rely on informal dumping. “Those figures reflect a design flaw,” she explained. “When responsibilities are split between multiple agencies without a unified framework, inefficiency becomes built-in.”
Her study drew on 142 academic and policy sources and analysed cities such as Amsterdam and Seoul to identify transferable governance models. “They proved that circularity works when policy, regulation, and citizens move together,” she said. The framework was then localised for African realities—limited budgets, weak data systems, and strong informal economies. “We needed a framework that acknowledges informality, not ignores it,” she added.
Across Africa, between 60 and 80 percent of recycling is performed by informal workers who collect and sell recyclables without legal protection. “The informal sector is Africa’s silent recycler,” she said. “Thousands of people in cities like Johannesburg or Lagos recover materials daily, yet they remain invisible in policy. Integrating them formally can raise recovery rates by up to 30 percent.” Her model proposes cooperatives, municipal partnerships, and health and safety coverage for informal recyclers. “In engineering terms, you don’t discard a functional component—you reinforce it,” she said.
Her argument resonates globally. The United Kingdom generates about 220 million tonnes of waste annually, the highest in Europe, yet operates over 300 separate collection systems across local councils. “The UK problem is not lack of resources—it’s complexity,” she observed. “Circular governance is about simplifying without losing accountability.” Her framework calls for coordination platforms that connect ministries, municipalities, and private operators, echoing multi-agency task forces in cities like Copenhagen.
The economic stakes are high. The African Development Bank projects that a shift to circular waste management could create more than 2 million jobs across the continent by 2030. “Waste is an economic resource,” Zamathula said. “In South Africa alone, recycling contributes around R25 billion to the economy each year. With proper governance, that figure could double.” She promotes tools such as landfill taxes, extended producer responsibility, and green bonds to finance infrastructure. “Cities can generate predictable revenue while promoting compliance,” she said.
Her engineering perspective keeps efficiency central. “Transport accounts for 30 to 40 percent of waste management costs,” she explained. “Designing smaller recycling facilities closer to collection points saves both money and emissions.” She also supports eco-industrial parks, where waste from one process becomes raw material for another. “Circularity must be built into planning, not added later,” she said.
The framework underscores human capital as a critical variable. A 2020 UNEP study found that fewer than 15 percent of African municipal waste officers have formal environmental training. “You can’t expect circular results from linear thinking,” she said. “We need technical training, scholarships, and accredited courses. Policymakers, engineers, and even collectors must understand circularity.”
Digital transformation is another cornerstone. “Cities lose visibility once waste leaves households,” she said. “Digital tracking closes that gap.” Pilot programs in Durban and Nairobi already show progress—mobile reporting tools increased segregation rates by 18 percent within a year. “Transparency is the first step toward accountability,” she said.
Her study also incorporates gender data. The International Labour Organization estimates that women make up about 60 percent of informal waste workers but hold under 10 percent of management roles. “We can’t call a system sustainable if it isn’t fair,” she said. “Women’s leadership improves efficiency and inclusion.” Her framework includes gender quotas for waste boards and access to financing for women-led recycling enterprises. “It’s not just equality—it’s efficiency,” she said.
When asked how her engineering background shapes her thinking, she smiled. “Engineering teaches you to trace failure points. If a structure collapses, you find the load path. Waste governance is no different. We traced where systems cracked—poor data, weak regulation, lack of coordination—and rebuilt the design.”
She explained that her journey began during postgraduate research. “I was studying landfill design and noticed new sites filled up almost immediately. That wasn’t an engineering failure—it was governance. Policy encouraged disposal, not prevention. We were solving symptoms, not causes.”
UNEP’s 2021 Waste Management Outlook for Africa warns that the continent’s current approach could cost governments over $8 billion a year by 2030 due to lost materials and environmental damage. “That’s not a loss—it’s potential revenue if managed properly,” she said. “Waste should pay for itself when designed as part of an economic loop.”
Her framework’s influence is already visible. Municipalities in Nigeria and South Africa have begun referencing it in strategic plans, and several are exploring pilot implementation. “We’ve had interest from three city councils looking to adapt it to their sustainability plans,” she confirmed. “That shows readiness for change.”
Her call for cooperation extends internationally. “Waste doesn’t stop at borders, and neither should solutions,” she said. “When Birmingham shares lessons on segregation and Lagos shares its community engagement model, both benefit.” She advocates an international circular governance network connecting academics, engineers, and policymakers.
Zamathula’s ability to translate engineering logic into governance reform is evident in her metaphors. “When one part of a system carries too much stress, like an overloaded beam, it fails,” she said. “The same applies to government. You distribute responsibility—national, municipal, and community levels, to balance the load.”
Her definition of success combines metrics and humanity. “Success means data accuracy within five percent, a 30 percent reduction in landfill input, and 80 percent citizen satisfaction,” she said. “But it also means dignity for workers and cleaner streets.”
She remains optimistic but realistic. “Circular governance is not about perfection—it’s about progress,” she repeated. “We design, test, adapt, and redesign. It’s the engineering mindset applied to policy.”
The next decade, she believes, is decisive. “We have about ten years to embed circularity into urban systems,” she said. “If we don’t, the ecological and financial costs will become irreversible.”
As our conversation ended, her conviction felt unmistakable. Zamathula Sikhakhane Nwokediegwu represents a generation of African scholars redefining how the world approaches sustainability. Her framework combines civil engineering discipline, social insight, and data precision to create a scalable blueprint for cities worldwide.
“Cities will rise, or fall based on how they govern waste,” she said in parting. “If we design governance with the same care we design bridges, our cities will not collapse under the weight of their own waste.”
Her words serve as both warning and invitation, a reminder that global solutions may not emerge from the world’s richest laboratories but from the careful, data-driven work of engineers and researchers in places like Durban, Lagos, and Nairobi, where innovation is born out of necessity and sustained by resolve.
