The earthquake which struck Haiti on January 12th has left entire towns devastated, with all key infrastructure, from water to roads, badly hit. Mountains of debris fill the streets, impeding recovery operations, and inadequate sanitation and waste disposal systems are posing a threat to the population. ProAct member, Martin Bjerregaard is the founder of Disaster Waste Discovery, a non-governmental organisation which specialises in waste management after disasters and conflicts. He and his colleagues are taking on some of the tremendous task of tackling the vast quantities of waste generated as a result of the earthquake.

You're faced with a challenge on a huge scale. Where to begin?

When you're confronted with a situation like this, sometimes the problem can seem so big and overwhelming that some people throw their hands up and say it's simply too much to deal with. Others just start chipping away, bit by bit, and that is what we are trying to do.

Your team was on the ground within a few days of the earthquake - why is it important to act fast on waste issues?

Public health is the main reason. When a major disaster hits, while many deaths may occur during the event, often more people die in the months that follow as a result of disease. If waste is left festering for more than a couple of days in high temperatures, it soon decomposes, bringing the risk of vermin and outbreaks: rats, flies and mosquitos may thrive and cause serious health risks. Also, many people in Haiti, especially children, put themselves in danger by going through the waste to try and pick out food scraps and other materials, such as aluminium. There are large amounts of waste at markets and camps near where people are eating.

Did the earthquake result in large quantities of hazardous waste, such as asbestos?

We haven't found any asbestos so far - we're looking for it but hoping it won't be there - nor have there been any signs of large spillages of dangerous chemicals. In the early stages there was some healthcare waste from hospitals and clinics, but most of this has been dealt with. The main waste problem is excreta, particularly in the camps for displaced people, which are producing a lot more waste per person than was expected. Overall, the problem is more about volume than composition, and disposal is the key the challenge: the current dump sites are not safe.

So what is DWR doing?

We are working with other agencies, such as Oxfam and CARE, to tackle the waste problems in camps. Waste collection needs to be systematised and everything must be disposed of safely. We are identifying the best options for disposal pits and landfill sites. DWR is also helping clear debris, particularly from roads, to make it easier for people to get around Port-au-Prince. We're clearing drainage channels, which have always been problematic, but now they are completely clogged up and what with arrival of the rainy seasons, we need to act quickly to reduce the impact of potential flooding. It's also important to convince people not to dump waste in channels, otherwise in a few years they will have to be cleared all over again - we are looking at providing bins as an alternative. We also have a Senior Waste management expert who has 25 years' experience and speaks creole. He is spending the year helping DINEPA, the Haitian government's water and sanitation authority.

What were your first impressions on arriving in Haiti about the challenges you would face?

Logistics was clearly going to be nightmare, with so many blocked roads and the need to move large trucks around. In some cases, there was also a lack of experience in dealing with this kind of situation, with organisations adopting an approach to debris processing which simply wasn't suitable for Haiti. For example, there were plans to transport the debris out of town, crush them, and then truck the gravel back in for reconstruction. We're talking about thousands of trucks going in and out of the towns, clogging up the streets for years - never mind the fact that Haiti simply doesn't have thousands of trucks and those which do exist are being rented out for three or four times what they should really cost. Our approach to demolition of debris is to do it as locally as possible: we bring in small mobile crushers and crush it up on site so it doesn't have to go all the way out of town.

Can much of the waste be re-used?

Eighty to ninety per cent of the debris from buildings are reusable. For the rest, the priority is to dispose of it safely. We can start looking at things like using excreta for composting later. In terms of things like plastic, paper, glass... after the initial emergency phase is over maybe the relevant organisations can start thinking about longer-term recycling plans, but it's something that we are not even very good at in our own countries anyway. I would always favour working with the informal sector on this, from the ground up, as well as with the big contractors. Often the man who goes around with a cart collecting things to resell or reuse can play a very useful role.

Are you pleased with progress so far?

Yes, our efforts are yielding results already, we've got the waste systems up and running, the camps are cleaner, we are making good progress on clearing drainage canals and more machinery on its way.

Based on your experience in numerous disaster-affected areas around the world, how do you think humanitarian response in these kinds of contexts could be improved?

As a humanitarian industry we have to get better at exit strategies. By the time our work is done we have often created teams of local people who could carry on working together, we need to make sure there is a good handover so they can continue after we have left. An effective team can be used for all kinds of things, from building bridges to community support. Letting things fall apart when we leave is a waste of effort and resources.