In March 2017, a landfill in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, collapsed and slid onto nearby homes, killing 113 people. In response, city officials called civil engineering Professor Sahadat Hossain for help.
"After the national tragedy in 2017, something had to be done. They were out of time."
"I was the only international expert allowed to the landfill after its collapse," says Dr. Hossain, who is also director of UTA's Solid Waste Institute for Sustainability (SWIS). "I had been working with the city of Addis Ababa since 2015, but after the national tragedy in 2017, something had to be done. They were out of time. It wasn't a question of when; it was a question of how."
The capital city signed a five-year, $4 million agreement with Hossain, UTA, and Kotebe Metropolitan University (KMU) to tackle the growing demand for sustainable urban development, specifically waste management. As part of the collaboration, SWIS will help Addis Ababa's waste management facility become a Center of Excellence and will work with KMU and city officials to plan projects for solid waste management and other related topics.
