The population of Monrovia, the capital of Liberia, has grown from a mere pre-war figure of 400,000 to an estimated 1 million plus today. As a consequence of this rapid growth in the population, the city generates huge mounts of garbage daily. During the war, City Hall lost all of its garbage collection and disposal equipment making the cleaning of Monrovia a function beyond the capacity of the city government.


Save the Children initiated a garbage collection and disposal programme which consists of placing skips in various parts of the city, the use of ex-combatants and the employees of city ball, the hiring of dumping trucks to haul the skips and a front-end-loader, and materials such as brooms, wheelbarrows, shovels, gloves and nose masks - to clean the city. Since the programme started about 1500 cubic yards of household garbage is being cleared from communities, hospital and clinic sites, and the streets of Monrovia every month.