Solid Waste Governance and Environmental Compliance in Liberia and Florida, USA: A Cross-Jurisdictional Analysis

Abstract

Purpose: This cross-jurisdictional review examines the divergence and convergence of municipal solid waste management (MSWM) governance in two jurisdictions, Liberia, West Africa, and the state of Florida, USA, with the aim of identifying governance design features that drive compliance gaps and transferable lessons for policy reform in lower-income country settings.

Methodology: The review employs a systematic comparative literature review organised around the integrated solid waste management (ISWM) framework and supplemented by the Governance Analytical Framework (GAF) and New Institutional Economics theory. Evidence was drawn from peer-reviewed journal articles, World Bank and United Nations assessments, national and state regulatory documents, and grey literature from non-governmental organisations. Literature was identified through systematic searches of Google Scholar, Scopus, and PubMed, covering the period 2000 to 2025. Analysis was structured across five governance dimensions: legislative coherence, institutional capacity, compliance monitoring, enforcement, and public participation.

Findings: Liberia's MSWM system is characterised by fragmented legislation, limited enforcement infrastructure, the absence of Polluter Pays and Extended Producer Responsibility mechanisms, and a persistent policy-to-practice gap between formal regulatory commitments and operational realities. Florida's system, anchored in the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act and administered through the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, demonstrates more coherent regulatory architecture and graduated compliance mechanisms. Florida's governance framework is significantly shaped by groundwater and aquifer protection imperatives, providing a sharp structural contrast to Liberia's documented pattern of disposal into swamplands, waterways, and vacant lots. Documented inequities in enforcement, Consent Order fatigue, and preemption laws limiting local environmental justice protections indicate that formal regulatory strength does not automatically produce equitable outcomes in mature systems either.

Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: The review identifies five transferable governance principles for Liberia: legislative consolidation with implementing regulations, county-level institutional investment, graduated enforcement pathways, formal integration of community-based and informal sector actors into governance frameworks, and a leapfrog digital monitoring strategy suited to mobile infrastructure rather than replication of complex data systems. The review argues that the governance gap separating high- and lower-income country MSWM systems is, at its core, a governance design problem as much as a resource problem.