By Morton Saulo

The Orwellian wisdom that some people are more equal than others may be true of the garbage people dispose of.

Garbage, despite its standard measure as waste or refuse, is not equal. It may also ‘speak’ for itself in ‘telling’ where it came from.

An article in the Economist magazine of February 12 said archeologists could study fossil garbage and tell a lot about the lifestyle of people who lived in a particular place.

Just ask the hordes of youths who work at the Dandora dump site in Nairobi and other dump spots.

They can tell where garbage has come from just by looking at it. They also attach value to garbage and deal with it according to its origin.

High-value waste

Lorries delivering garbage from high-class estates are eagerly awaited at the dump site as they often contain ‘high-value’ refuse.

Gangs, who control the garbage dump site charge a higher premium for anyone wanting to collect garbage from these lorries. They classify garbage as either from rich or poor residential estates. They also highly value industrial garbage.

The most valued lorries are the ones that arrive every morning from Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, Nairobi.

It delivers garbage that consists mostly food items from passenger planes. Some of it is canned or packed in plastics marked NAS (Nairobi Airport Services).

"Hii ni kama Christmas kila siku ikifika hapa. Chakula ingine bado iko moto, (This is like Christmas every day when it arrives here, some food arrive here still warm)," says Ms Jane Wanjiku, who sorts garbage at the dump site.

Charges by cartels

Cartels charge Sh20 for any collector, who wants to have a share of the airport lorry garbage.

For other lorries, the charge is Sh10 but for lorries from estates like Westlands and Lavington, they charge Sh15.

These lories may yield valued items like broken bicycles, toys, clothes, shoes and untouched food items.

But lorries from the slums and other low class residential area of Eastlands are treated without much respect.

"Hii ya kutoka Kariobangi mara nyingi huwa imejaaa plastic paper na mifupa ya samaki tupu, (These ones from Kariobangi are often full of plastic paper and fish bones)," says Willy Ochieng as he watches a garbage tipper record its weight at the dump site’s weighing bridge.

They are used to dealing with the garbage that when a lorry arrives and heaps garbage, they can tell where it is from.

Patiently, they sit watching as every truck enters the damp site.

Momentarily, they are seen glancing at their mobile phones, monitoring arriving trucks.

Hundreds of marabou storks, which inhabit the dump site, also seem to have developed preference for garbage that yields more food.

The waste collectors have learnt the trade. They know the exact time the trucks from up market areas would arrive.

In well co-ordinated moves to ensure that groups get chance to scavenge the trucks, they often send their emissaries to market areas like Westlands to secure the truck before it arrives.

Sometimes, they board the truck and start working on garbage as it is enroute to the dump site. These are the youths often seen atop the garbage trucks.

"We know these trucks and if we do not monitor them, rival groups might ‘hijack’ them and sort out all valuables before they arrive," says Ochieng’.