How to turn Nairobi’s trash into cash

The rapid growth of our economy has come with its own set of challenges. For instance, we are now one of the highest producers of household and industrial waste.

For decades, however, we have not been able to convert our massive waste accumulation into an economic advantage.

If well harnessed, the waste we generate has even a larger potential to grow our economy. This is more so if we take new measures and ensure we manage it in a more innovative and sustainable manner. The question would be: Can we do things differently? Can we change our production and consumption patterns to generate wealth from what we currently designate as waste in Nairobi as well as other cities?

Nairobi is Kenya’s commercial capital. The city has the best infrastructure in Kenya, including modern financial and communications systems. 60 per cent of Kenya’s national income and half of its labour force can be found in Nairobi.

Today, the city’s population has mushroomed from about 300,000 people in 1979 to nearly five million. And it is projected to have as many as eight million residents by end of the decade. This increase in population therefore means that more solid waste is generated.

This situation is exacerbated by the fact that most Nairobi residents have not adopted good waste-management practices. Most resident dump waste anywhere and anyhow complicating the management of solid waste.

Nairobi’s over three million residents generate over 2,000 metric tonnes of waste every day, a figure that is expected to grow to 3,900 tonnes by 2030 in the wake of increased urbanisation. It is therefore imperative that proper infrastructure is put in place both for waste collection and management of the disposal site in order to counter the eminent challenges of urbanisation.

The amount of waste generated requires more than 100 assorted vehicles to effectively collect and transport it for disposal. That’s why last July, Nairobi City County acquired 14 trucks (against a target of 50) and a wheel loader valued at Sh278 million to enhance its solid waste management capacity. To support this exercise the county also acquired a D8 Dozer machine for use at the Dandora dumpsite.

One sure strategy would be creation of decomposition centres upgraded to waste treatment centres, where solid waste can be sorted out into four major categories: Recyclable, reusable, reduce and recover. This way, we can begin looking at how to take an economic advantage from the waste.

This process will separate paper, plastic bottles, glass bottles, metal and organic. The recyclable materials will be channeled to the relevant industries like Chandaria and Kamongo, while the organic material will be decomposed and sold to small scale farmers adding value to urban farming.

But this entails a paradigm shift from the current chaotic methodology of collection, transportation and disposal and sale of solid waste to a franchise system which promotes openness, transparency and accountability. This new system will enable residents and to some extent farmers to realise their full potential in waste collection, transportation and disposal.

It will in turn also ensure Nairobi City County government works toward ensuring the collection and generation of substantial revenue through recycling industry. This will elevate our City’s status regionally and globally as a clean city and investment hub and where to live, work and invest in.

Introduced franchising

The three main collectors of solid waste in Nairobi are the Nairobi City County government’s Environment Department, contractors hired by the county and licensed private garbage collectors. Over the years, the capacities of these three actors has not been enough to clear all the waste generated in the county. As such a lot of garbage has been left to accumulate.

The level of cleanliness in the lower CBD was lower than that in upper CBD due to inadequate resource mobilisation. To address this issue, we have engaged a contractor to provide cleaning services and also introduced franchising to ensure cleanliness is not only uniform across all zones but also that it has gone higher than before.

Solid waste management has the potential to improve the lives of residents. We have made several strides as a government. But we continue to face challenges in the daily management of waste, including lack of a proper zoning system. Above all, the county government is committed to promoting innovative approaches of managing solid waste in Nairobi City County. We urge stakeholders to support these initiatives. ­

Evans Kidero is Nairobi County Governor, [email protected]