186 ANNE M. KARANJA, MOSES M. IKIARA, THEO C. DAVIES
Technology in small-scale metal recycling
Sheet metal fabrication requires the least skills and resources. It is mainly small-scale
in size and informal in operations and uses simple tools and equipment (Frijns et al.
1997). The enterprises studied mainly used simple technology to perform functions
such as bending, riveting, straightening, folding, rolling, shaping, moulding etc. Other
simple tools like hammers, chisels, scissors, pliers, axles, brushes, anvil, and saw are
commonly used. Some of the enterprises own a bending/punching machine, riveting
machine, roller and welding machine, drill and grinder. Services are also hired from
neighbouring enterprises at a fee. Electricity for use with these machines is tapped
from the nearby Undugu Society and sub-divided amongst a few enterprises that also
share the bill. Shortage of power sometimes dictates that some production functions
like heavy welding have to be performed during low power peaks. Few of the entre-
preneurs have formal training for the work they are engaged in. Skills are mainly
picked up through informal apprenticeships.
Products and markets
A great variety of household utility items are made at Kamukunji. They include sheet
metal boxes, charcoal jiko (cooking stoves), bicycle carriers, farm implements like
hoes and jembes, water basics like tanks, gutters, and watering cans, wheelbarrows,
poultry-keeping essentials, cooking pots as well as griddles. Charcoal jikos, sheet
metal boxes, buckets and cooking pots are the most common products, with 40 percent
of the enterprises making jikos, boxes, drums^26 , buckets and cooking pots.
Goods manufactured at Kamukunji are largely sold to individuals, retailers and whole-
salers, small-scale enterprises in and outside Nairobi. Six enterprises (18.2 percent)
also sell some of their products to Zaire, Rwanda, Burundi, Central Africa, Uganda,
Tanzania and Germany. However, this is on a one-off basis and largely results from
the piecemeal government sponsored regional integration in trade fares under
COMESA^27 or such other regional trade bodies. These do not translate into regular
customised orders Moreover, without access to institutional credit, it is unlikely that
these enterprises have the capacity to service big orders even if they were available.
As a result, products are mainly made for display and sale at the site, aiming at the
immediate local market. Most entrepreneurs depend on ‘chance’ sales from the imme-
diate local neighbourhood (93 percent of the entrepreneurs).
An outstanding feature at Kamukunji are the huge, dusty, neatly arranged stacks and
rows of buckets, jikos, metal sheet boxes and wheelbarrows. Some of the items were
produced ‘almost a year ago’. Aggressive marketing by intermediaries for commission
- Drum here refers to recycled oil or chemical containers that are cut into half or simply cleaned and
sold for reuse as cooking pots for institutions like schools or as feeding troughs for livestock. They are
also used for brewing busaa orchang’aa (local illicit drinks) or for water storage. - Common market for East and Southern African.