TRADE AND RECYCLING OF URBAN INORGANIC SOLID WASTE IN NAIROBI 175
Dealers operate in open yards measuring about ½ acre, rented from private owners for
a small monthly fee or on vacant municipality land, e.g. road reserves. Rent for the
latter is paid in the form of bribes to policemen or the NCC askaris.
Operational costs and incomes
Operational costs for dealers are higher than those of other actors The high costs of
transporting waste materials to the reprocessing factories is largely covered by the
dealer. A typical waste dealer in Nairobi invests about Ksh. 6,000 (US$ 78) to start
trading. Capital is raised from personal savings, soft loans from friends and relatives as
well as group savings (merry-go-round)^10. The need to earn income is the main reason
dealers give for their involvement in this work. They also state that the activity was
previously more profitable (‘before factories closed’).
Unlike waste pickers, dealers are required to have trade licenses from the Nairobi City
Council. There is no standard format and fee for this. Bribery is rampant and
somewhat accepted as a necessary component of the application and processing proce-
dures. The amount paid for the license can range from Ksh. 300 to Ksh. 7,000 (US$ 4
- per year. As a result, some dealers opt to operate without it but have to constantly
bribe the council askaris arguing that one has to give bribes anyway whether they have
the license or not. This is considered a necessary expenditure for the survival and
smooth running of the business. Failure to do this often results in the confiscation of
one’s stock of materials and expulsion from the trading site.
- per year. As a result, some dealers opt to operate without it but have to constantly
Their incomes average Ksh. 13,000 (US$ 171) per month and range from Ksh. 2,500
to 40,000 (US$ 33 – 526) per month. Most dealers also earn supplementary incomes
through other activities, which are co-managed with spouses and other relatives. 60
percent of the dealers in this study were also trading in ‘mitumba’ (second-hand
clothes from abroad which are preferred to local manufactures) and 48 percent in char-
coal. Though these seem to be recent initiatives (perhaps prompted by decline in waste
dealing), trade in second-hand clothes is particularly profitable though complicated.
This group showed attempts at diversification or, as some put it, preparation to exit
should ‘business continue to decline’. Dealers also have a slightly larger household,
averaging 9 persons, which often includes extended family members They help with
the work in exchange for accommodation and assistance in the search for employment.
- Rotating group saving schemes are a common phenomenon in the city and can operate on neighbour-
hood, work, professional or gender basis. From the small amounts contributed by each member, an
informal form of financing at low/zero interest rates on a rotational basis is conducted.