City residents will pay more for waste disposal as the county moves to implement the law on solid waste management.
Environment executive Peter Kimori said the solid waste collection charge is provided for in the county Finance Act, but has never been implemented.
He said domestic waste disposal attracts charges of between Sh100 and Sh300 per month, depending on the area where one lives.
Most residents pay between Sh50 and 300 per month to community based organisations to collect and dispose waste at the Dandora dumpsite.
“Those residing in slums will pay Sh100, while those in high-end estates will part with Sh300 a month,” Kimori said.
He said the county is aiming to raise Sh400 million a month from the charges. “This money will help us serve residents better, because we will be able to pay our contractors, buy more trucks and clean the city,” Kimori said on Friday.
The county government spends Sh60 million a month to pay garbage contractors.
Kimori said the county will use the community based organisations to enforce the Act.
“We are going to engage the CBOs to collect the money on our behalf,” he said.
Kimori spoke during a press conference at City Hall.
Most residents have accused the county of being unable to manage waste. They say the city is filthy due to piles of uncollected trash in the CBD, markets and residential areas.
But Kimori said inadequate finances, shortage of trucks and bad roads, especially those leading to the Dandora dumpsite, have been the cause of garbage problem.
“We have bought 20 bin skippers, 17 new garbage trucks and will add 51 more to our fleet in three months to address this problem," he said.
The county is also compacting waste to increase the lifespan of the site by five years, he said.
The 30-year-old dumpsite is full and Kimori said the county government has hired a consultant, through the European Union and the World Bank, to carry out a feasibility study on how the waste can be recycled.
The county had set aside 500 acres in Ruai, but the plan was put abandoned after the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority said scavenging birds attracted by the dumpsite would interfere with the safety of planes flying to and from Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.