TRADE AND RECYCLING OF URBAN INORGANIC SOLID WASTE IN NAIROBI 167
by the then main service provider, the NCC, were going downhill. The waste manage-
ment problem in Nairobi had reached crisis proportions (chapter 4). This suggests that
several factors contributed to the increased numbers of people engaging in waste
picking and related activities.
8.5. SOCIAL ASPECTS OF WASTE PICKING AND THE COMMODITY CHAIN
There are two main types of waste pickers in Nairobi, depending on the locality of
activity, namely street waste pickers and dump waste pickers Street waste pickers
separate waste in small open city waste sites, mainly in the streets and public dustbins.
Dump waste pickers on the other hand operate in the large formal or informal
disposal^5 sites where final disposal of waste takes place. These factors significantly
differentiate these categories in terms of organisation, networks as well as the types of
materials preferred, their marketability and incomes. They also have different impli-
cations for occupational and health effects. However, both categories predominantly
consist of young (average age of 25 to 36 years)^6 men, with low educational and skills
levels, who have resided in the city for about 15 years They are commonly referred to
aschokora, a derogatory Kiswahili term describing people without fixed abode whose
main ‘occupation’ is to rummage through dustbins in search of food and other ‘valu-
ables’. They are also viewed as petty criminals. As mentioned earlier, their identity is
closely tied with that of parking boys.
There are few women pickers in the streets, which is indicative of the social and
cultural definitions of the types of activities especially for women (see Huysman,
1994). Female pickers are much more prevalent in large waste dumps, away from the
public eye. Because of their inability to participate in the regular waste picking
arrangements found at the dump, their incomes are lower than those of male pickers
but they rely on the Dandora dump not only for income but also for household essen-
tials like food, cooking fuel, soap etc. Most of these are single female heads of house-
holds characterised by extreme poverty.
20 percent of the dump waste pickers at Dandora reside within the dump itself and
like their counterparts in the streets, they obtain other basic essentials like food and
clothing from the garbage heaps. The streets are also home to a significant number of
street waste pickers Garbage is a source of cash as well as non-cash income, the latter
- The data on dump waste picker(s) was obtained from surveys amongst waste pickers at the Dandora
dumpsite and also from two of the informal ones, Kawangware and Embakasi. - These data do not include street children who are far younger than this and who engage in recovery of
waste materials, mainly food, on an intermittent basis. Though they may sell some materials to deal-
ers, they are not regular participants in the commodity chain. It is estimated that there are now about
60,000 of such children (Daily Nation, March 14th, 1998).