The African crusade for environmental safety and green economy started in 1970 (Zigegy 2015; Dunlap et al. 2000), given persistent environmental challenges among which inadequate waste management is notable (Brooks 2006; Comrade 1996). In 1992, several world’s leaders in Rio de Janeiro accentuated to the notion of incongruous nexus of doom and perpetual gloom between the goals of economic development and environmental conservation. Similarly, after the Rio?20 ‘Earth Summit’ in 2012, African leaders reached a consensus on the need to re-echo sustainable development as a pressing issue to be emphasized in the quests for economic growth and development (Kimanuka 2015). The dynamics of economic growth in many developing countries since the turn of twenty-first century poses significant concerns for environmental conservation and safety in a rapidly urbanized society (Tacoli 2012). Some estimates have shown that 60% of people in the world would live in urban centres by 2030, and developing countries would account for majority of this predicted growth (National Intelligence Council 2012). Similarly, projections have shown that urban transitions in many sub-Saharan Africa will persist in the twenty-first century with urban population being more than double from 298 million in 2010 to 697 million in 2035 (ACP-EC Joint Parliamentary Assembly 2014). Therefore, in many African countries, the worst may not have been witnessed in terms of rapid growth of urban population with its associated environmental challenges. Although widely reckoned as one of the important parameters of civilization, urbanization comes with a lot of environmental problems, which if not well managed would ultimately result into complete erosion of benefits derived from economic development programmes. This is emphatically pathetic given the prime relevance of ensuring sustainable urban development as prescribed in the 6th and 11th Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) (United Nations Economic Commission for Africa et al. 2014; United Nations 2015; International Council for Science (ICSU) and ISSC 2015). Presently, inappropriate disposal of wastes is a fundamental development challenge of our time as the quantities and spectrums of domestic and industrial wastes daily increase (Kamara 2006; Lumby 2005). In South Africa, waste management initiatives graduated from the basic approach that emphasizes the need for a clean and safe environment through appropriate waste disposal methods, to integrated waste management practice with enactment of the Waste Act of 2008 (Act No. 59 of 2008). With effective date of 1 July 2009, the Act compels establishment of National Waste Management Strategy (NWMS) in order to achieve the stated objectives of promoting cleaner environment, reducing volume of generated waste, and invoking culture of waste reuse, recycling and treatment, while disposal is considered only as the option of last resort (South African Waste Information Centre (SAWIC 2014).