Mombasa garbage not fully exploited, says senator

Mombasa county has failed to turn its garbage into a money-making venture, Senator Mohamed Faki has said.

Faki said the VOK dumpsite, which has been the subject of push and pull between several parties, can easily employ more 1,000 youth directly and indirectly.

The dumpsite has been a contentious issue between the county, Nyali MP Mohamed Ali, civil society organisations and residents.

“The county has put a dumpsite here but it is not being taken care of,” Faki said. 

He spoke Saturday during a youth empowerment drive where he donated safety gear, including overalls and gloves to the youth who collect garbage from houses and dump them at the dumpsite.

Senator Faki said when the Kibarani dumpsite was still active, the county had permanently employed youth at the dumpsite to sort the garbage out ready for collection.

“There are youth who are doing the same work out of their own volition to at least make ends meet. That is why we have come to empower them,”  he said.

Faki further said the youth expose themselves to diseases because of the lack of proper safety gear while working at the dumpsite.

The civil society and neighbouring residents want the VOK dumpsite shut down and relocated to another place, citing health risks.

Faki on Saturday said the youth working on the dumpsite must be motivated, arguing that garbage, when properly exploited, is a source of wealth.

“Without these boys, the garbage here would have found its way back into the houses around,” the senator said.

He said his office has plans in place to provide the youth with a garbage tuktuk and a pushing cart, which they can use to collect garbage from houses.

“The problem is that the county has not really sat down with such youth to discuss ways they can engage each other in such a useful venture,” Faki said.

He said the county loses millions of shillings by dumping waste in Mwakirunge dumping site.

“We use trucks to collect garbage and transport them to Mwakirunge. That is fuel consumed. There is wear and tear of the trucks, with no revenue coming from that process.” 

He said the county assembly can establish a law that will ensure garbage is sorted at the appropriate level before being dumped in Mwakirunge "so that garbage like plastic can be recycled and others can be used to generate energy."

Last August, Mombasa Environment executive Godfrey Nato said there is a deficit of garbage collection in the county which youth can do and make millions in the process.

Nato said the county is working on logistics and infrastructure to ensure waste collection is handled by the private sector.

Mombasa has a population of about 1.2 million people and with the per capita generation of solid waste per day being 0.75 per day, this translates to 900 tonnes of solid waste generated by residents per day.

The county’s collection efficiency is between 45 and 50 per cent.

“This means a whopping 450 tonnes of waste generated every day is not properly managed. And so it finds itself somewhere where we can’t account for,” Nato said.

He said statistics in Mombasa show there is an existing opportunity in waste collection that can be exploited by youth and women.

A survey done last year, he said, showed Mombasa residents are not comfortable paying for waste collection services to the county, but are willing to pay the private sector for the same.

He said 68 per cent of the waste generated in Mombasa is organic, while 30 per cent is recyclable waste.

Nato a said this means that 30 per cent of the 900 tonnes of waste generated daily in Mombasa is highly valuable.

In a stakeholder engagement between some of the recyclers and the county last year, firms said they are willing to pay between Sh4 and Sh7 per kilogramme of waste of varying recyclable streams.

“The youth and women constitute some of the private sector actors that we are looking into to tap into this potential sector,” Nato said.

He said the pilot project will see at least 100 youth and women benefit from it.

About 60 per cent of the Mombasa population live in informal settlements.

According to the county, currently, there are about 1,500 youth registered as waste collectors in Mombasa and are earning a living out of it.

However, there are more other waste collectors commonly referred to as ‘Beba Beba Boys’ who are operating under unregulated system, Nato noted.

“We are just streamlining the system, not doing away with anybody. We are just streamlining it and making it better and easier for them to reap more income than what they are earning right now,” Nato said.

He added that once garbage collection efficiency is improved, it will be easy for the county to start encouraging recyclers of garbage to come in.

(edited by Amol Awuor)