Nairobi's garbage pileup blamed on lack of waste plants

Nairobi's garbage problem has been linked to lack of licensed waste management facilities, yet it generates the most city waste.

The county collects billions of shillings in revenue from residents, but it has yet to provide adequate garbage collection services.

The National Environmental Complaints Committee told Nairobi Metropolitan Services in July many counties, including Nairobi, fail to prioritise solid waste management.

Kenya generates 22,000 tonnes of waste per day, including  2,400 tonnes in Nairobi county. And the amount of waste appears to be increasing. 

Sixty to 70 per cent is organic waste, 20 per cent plastic, 10 per cent paper, two per cent metal and one per cent medical waste.

In the NECC report, secretary John Chumo said no county operates a licensed landfill, only dumpsites that are not well managed, posing health risks

“Many counties focus on other areas like schools and water, forgetting all these institutions and facilities emit waste,” he said.

 “The dumpsites are unfenced, unmanned and the waste is not well managed. Medical, hazardous and municipal waste is dumped together.

"The fact dumpsites are readily accessible to both the public and livestock is a public health concern."

The Dandora dumpsite is Nairobi's only legal dumping area, declared more than three times full in 2010. Waste was then compacted.

It holds 1.8 million tonnes of solid waste but the capacity is 500,000 tonnes.

On July 15, Environment and Land Court Judge Kossy Bor gave NMS until February next year to close and rehabilitate the Dandora dumpsite.

NMS was also directed to ensure waste in the dumpsite is managed in a way to protect human health and the environment. NMS must ensure no plastic or other waste is burnt.

“With goodwill, nothing is impossible. It is high time some of these issues are handled in court for people to see their seriousness,” Bor said, referring to the short time frame.

As Dandora is full, many illegal dumpsites have sprung up, said to be managed by cartels minting millions from them.

In its first 100 days, the NMS mapped 110 illegal dumping sites and closed 82 of them to crack down on cartels.

The closure has not stopped the illegal dumping of waste on roadsides, estates and along pedestrian footpaths.

In June, NMS said it had identified 1,000 more illegal dumpsites.

They were identified when the city recovered grabbed land in Ruai. NMS cleared and closed 73 of those dumpsites.

Last October, NMS director general Mohammed Badi had announced the installation of a sanitary landfill in Ruai to temporarily ease congestion at Dandora. No updates have been announced.

In the long run, there were plans to set up a waste-to-energy Dandora plant by the Ministry of Energy through KenGen.

Despite efforts to encourage reuse, recycling and recovery, NECC reports the amount of solid waste remains high and appears to be increasing.

Garbage collection and disposal is a major threat to Nairobi governance, a headache to every county government.

Even with the transfer of key functions to NMS, the filth is an on-and-off challenge, threatening to soil Nairobi Metropolitan Services' clean image.

The NECC report cited poor servicing of garbage trucks and poor infrastructure problems.

NMS and the Kenya Defence Forces in October last year restored 83 grounded vehicles for Sh22 million. Out of the 83, 21 garbage trucks were reactivated.

Earlier this year, the Environment directorate announced garbage collection would improve as new contractors had been hired, bringing  205 trucks on board.

A month's delay in the renewal of collector's contracts resulted in almost a month's lapse while garbage piled up.

The old contractors had lost confidence in City Hall due to non-payment and were unwilling to work.

However, NMS hired new contractors and brought in casual workers who had been sweeping the streets.

(Edited by V. Graham)