two excellent signs that african countries are taking on the challenge of waste management in urban areas include rwanda s banned on the use of polyethylene bags in africa and ethiopias recentlybuilt waste to energy plant at reppie the largest plant in africa which recycles tons of waste to generate per cent of energy consumed by households the collection of solid waste in many african countries is largely performed by private services in bamako mali for example more than microenterprises collect some tons annually in lusaka zambia per cent of the municipal waste is collected by informal service providers unhabitat