COLLECTION,TRANSPORTATION AND DISPOSAL IN NAIROBI 71
unsuitable for Nairobi and its waste characteristics. Such trucks are expensive, labour
replacing, and require expensive imported spare parts (Syagga 1992, Otieno 1992).
Lack of finance and mechanical problems arising from poor roads, overloading and
mishandling by crews, poor service and unavailability of spare parts, and frequent
accidents are the principle causes of the poor status of NCC’s garbage collection vehi-
cles. Maintenance is often not adequately budgeted for while the Council’s procedure
for acquiring spare parts is lengthy and time wasting. In addition, the vehicles are ille-
gally used for private transportation.
Disposal
Waste disposal is the exclusive responsibility of the NCC. The city has only one
official dumpsite, an open landfill type. Located about 7.5 km east of the CBD (at
Dandora; see Figure 4.2), the dump is about 26.5 hectares and filled by approximately
1.3 million cubic meters of garbage after about 14 years of use (JICA, 1998). The
dump is owned and operated by the NCC, which charges a dumping fee ranging from
Kshs 30 to Kshs 100 (US$ 0.4-1.35) depending on vehicle capacity. The charges are
not only low but corruption denies the NCC a substantial portion of the revenue.
Nevertheless, the costs of disposal at the official dump are rather high due to its
peripheral location, lack of garbage transfer facilities in the city, and insecurity. Inse-
curity is associated with gang type control of the dump by groups of waste dealers and
pickers Several gangs have formed and divided the dump into territories. Each gang
polices its territory to enforce ownership of waste dumped there. Similarly, trucks that
regularly transport waste into the dump are “owned” by specific gangs and are usually
guided to the appropriate territory for dumping. Truck drivers, including NCC drivers,
must cooperate lest the trucks are vandalised. They usually pay for police escort to the
dump. However, the police are often helpless against the gangs, some of which are led
by heavily armed hardcore criminals masquerading as waste dealers
Insecurity, high cost of SW transports and disposal, and lack of effective monitoring
of the activities of private companies create a milieu for indiscriminate dumping by
private companies. Consequently, illegal dumps (used even by NCC) have sprouted in
many places. The demand for dumpsites has induced a few private individuals with
abandoned quarries on their land to offer them for waste dumping at modest fees. One
of the large private solid waste collection companies has been trying to acquire a
licence from the NCC to operate its own sanitary landfill site without success. This
will be possible once the new environmental legislation is implemented.