Solid Waste Management and Recycling

URBAN ORGANIC SOLID WASTE:PRACTICES IN NAIROBI 247

waste spearheaded by the NCC, but also involving other stakeholders, is the best solu-
tion. They also emphasised the need to encourage the commercial use of organic waste
through composting and sale in farming, as well as the need to educate stakeholders
on recycling and reuse. Other solutions proposed are detailed in Table 12.2.

12.6. INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK IN COMPOST HANDLING

The NCC has the sole responsibility for solid waste management in Nairobi (Mwanthi
et al., 1997) but its services have been deteriorating, especially in the informal settle-
ments. The inability of the NCC to efficiently handle solid wastes, including the
organic waste load, continues to force an advocacy through the local government for
the involvement of both large and small-scale private institutions as well as NGOs and
CBOs in all segments of the SWM chain, from collection and separation to marketing
and reuse. Mwanthi et al. (1997) suggested that schools and other institutions of
learning, NGOs, religious groups, health workers, womens’ groups (e.g. Maendeleo
ya Wanawake) and landlords should assist the NCC in tackling solid waste manage-
ment issues. Although the last four to five years have seen the emergence of these
groups, an established institutional framework currently exists only in the composting
sector, which formally came into being in 1992.

In that year, the Uvumbuzi club, through the encouragement of NGOs, embarked on
composting as a means of dealing with the organic fraction of solid waste, primarily
from households (especially in low income areas, where these wastes were being
randomly dumped). The Uvumbuzi club had two main objectives for the projects it
organised: (i) to start an initiative to clean the City, following the continued deteriora-
tion in services by the NCC and (ii) to set up the projects as income generating
projects, especially in low income areas. The Uvumbuzi Club initially facilitated the
formation of 10 groups but a number of other organisations have initiated self-help
SWM projects in the City that likewise focus mainly on composting.

Table 12.2 Farmers’ solutions for tackling the solid waste problem

Solution Percent of respondents

Proper collection and disposal spearheaded by NCC but
involving other stakeholders
Commercial use of organic waste (composting and sale)
Recycling and reuse
Educating people and creating awareness on proper handling
of waste
Burning
Strict anti-dumping policy
Privatisation of garbage collection
NCC should pay workers well

46.7

40.0

26.7

13.3

10.0

6.7

3.3

3.3