68 MOSES M. IKIARA, ANNE M. KARANJA AND THEO C. DAVIES
Because of the inadequacy of solid waste collection services households may convert
to indiscriminate dumping and littering, waste burning and/or burying, and some of
them even openly acknowledge to engage in such practices.
Institutions
Institutions like schools, hospitals, hotels and restaurants, shops, and markets are also
involved in both waste generation and separation of materials at source. They contract
private companies for solid waste collection and sell/give waste free to farmers and
waste pickers About 47 percent of the 19 institutions interviewed in Esho (1997)
handled waste themselves, 45 percent of them by burning it and the rest by selling it
to waste pickers About 67 percent of the 18 commercial enterprises interviewed sold
their waste to pickers Our 1998 survey indicates that some of the organic waste
collected from 43 percent of the markets and institutions in Nairobi is used as animal
feed. Kenyatta National Hospital has its own incineration unit and is gearing to sell
incineration services to other institutions.
Industrial waste is not considered as municipal waste and the generator is responsible
for its disposal. Industries either transport and dispose waste by themselves, contract
private agencies or NCC to do it, sell/give it to recycling enterprises, or recycle it
themselves. Esho (1997) found that 50 percent of the industries interviewed contracted
the private sector to handle their waste while the remainder handled the waste by
themselves, 60 percent of them through recycling and the rest through open dumping
or selling it to waste pickers
4.4. ACTORS IN SOLID WASTE COLLECTION
The NCC and private commercial companies are the principal providers of solid waste
collection service in Nairobi although, as Figure 4.1 shows, there are smaller actors
Some industries and bulk generators like Nairobi Airport Services (NAS) store and
transport their waste to the dumpsite by themselves.
In 1998, the NCC accounted for 22 percent of the 360 tonnes of solid waste collected
in the city per day while the private firm contracted by the NCC to offer solid waste
management service in the CBD (Kenya Refuse Handlers Limited) accounted for 46
percent and the other private companies the balance (JICA, 1998). Tables 4.2 and 4.3
suggest the relative importance of collection agencies in the city from survey results^3.
The tables show that private companies and personal initiative are very important.
Moreover, many households are not served. About 48 percent of the households we
interviewed did not receive any solid waste collection service, generally agreeing with
findings of the JICA study that found 26 percent of high-income areas, 16 percent of
- These results cannot be said to apply to Nairobi as a whole because of unrepresentative sampling and
other methodological problems. Nevertheless, they yield valuable insights.