Sanitation – An Economic Perspective

All humans produce wastes of various types; for example, urine and faeces, wastes from washing and cooking, and solid wastes produced at home and in workplaces, schools, hospitals and other public buildings. All these wastes need to be controlled and managed for the benefit of people and the environment that they live in. In urban areas where people live close together and space can be limited, managing these wastes is a difficult problem.The purpose of this article is to examine the nature, scope and importance of economics of sanitation. Unlike the subject sociology of sanitation, economics of sanitation has somehow remained behind.Sanitation has an economic base too. This article tries to bring the concept of sanitation theory and practice into the realm of economics