62 MOSES M. IKIARA, ANNE M. KARANJA AND THEO C. DAVIES
This chapter looks at solid waste collection in Nairobi and its implications for urban
sustainable development. It lays particular emphasis on the significance and sustain-
able development of the activities of recent entrants into waste CTD, the private sector
and the civil society. Questions addressed include:
- Which actors take part in Nairobi’s solid waste collection and how are their activ-
ities organised? - What is the relative and absolute importance of these activities?
- What are the contributions of the key solid waste collection activities to urban
sustainable development? - What are the problems and potentials of various forms of solid waste collection
according to stakeholders?
The discussion draws from literature and data (secondary and primary) collected in
1998 and 1999. Details of the methodology and data used, including the template
applied in the analysis of sustainable development, are presented in chapter 1 of this
volume and in the methodological appendix.
4.2. HISTORY AND INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK
The NCC, a local authority under the Ministry of Local Government (MOLG), has
always provided solid waste management services in Nairobi. Prior to the Environ-
mental Management and Coordination Act (1999), local authorities (LAs) had
monopoly control over sanitation and solid waste management services (Mulei and
Bokea, 1999). Other agencies required written authority of the relevant LA to handle
waste materials or provide solid waste management services.
The NCC experimented with privatisation of solid waste management in 1906 when
a private company was contracted to sweep and clean city streets, collect garbage and
provide street lighting (UNCHS, Undated). The private company failed to execute the
contract satisfactorily and privatisation was abandoned. The NCC provided solid
waste collection services satisfactorily until the late 1970s. Deterioration of perform-
ance started in the late 1970s, accelerated in the 1980s and 1990s. Starting in the
mid-1980s, the appalling NCC performance and demand for solid waste collection
services attracted private sector providers Bins (Nairobi) Services Limited and
Domestic Refuse Disposal Services Limited (DRDS), registered under the Companies
Act to offer solid waste collection services to industries, institutions, commercial
establishments and high-income residential areas in 1986-1987. Entry of private
sector companies continued in the 1990s. In 1997, following research supported by the
Japanese Government, the NCC started a pilot solid waste management privatisation
scheme^1 in the form of a management contract to a private firm. The contract ended
in 1999 and is yet to be renewed.
- The details of the pilot scheme are provided in a later section of the chapter.