74 MOSES M. IKIARA, ANNE M. KARANJA AND THEO C. DAVIES
lation at 2.14 million, 7.5 percent of the country’s total population (Republic of
Kenya, 2001). The population, moreover, is growing at 4-5 percent annually.
Finally, the solid waste collection bylaws are very general, fail to define appropriate
standards, and specify low penalties, while enforcement by the City Inspectorate
Department is notoriously weak (JICA, 1998). Empowerment of the DOE to prose-
cute, regulate and establish environmental standards, and to operate within the new
Environmental Management and Coordination Act has been recommended, but is still
to materialize (NCC, 2000).
Private commercial companies
Since the mid-1980s, there are now at least 60 private solid waste collection compa-
nies in Nairobi (JICA, 1998). Their entry was stimulated by the increasing failure of
the NCC service, and the resultant demand for solid waste collection service. The
majority of the private companies are either small family ventures or a hybrid between
a CBO and a private firm. Typically, a number of young people form a group and start
offering solid waste collection service. However, there are about 10 relatively larger
firms (see below).
The private companies simply obtain a business license and start offering solid waste
collection services, without vetting or regulation. For most of them service
commences once a client completes (basically name and address) and signs a form
prepared by them. The forms specify the monthly charge, the frequency of the collec-
tion service, and the storage facilities to be supplied by the company. Because of
increasing competition and cases of unsatisfactory service, moreover, some of the
firms include (in the form) a promise to refund for unsatisfactory service. The signed
forms are the only “contracts” involved. Some of the agreements, especially those
involving small companies, are only verbal. They are also short term. The contracts
have no provision for sanctions and there is no legal framework for the companies to
deal with payment defaulters or for clients to secure legal redress when service quality
is unsatisfactory. The wronged party simply walks out of the relationship. Some of the
private companies, however, retaliate for non-payment^6. There are no bylaws speci-
fying the rights and obligations of the companies and their clients. Private solid waste
collection business is operated purely on a willing-buyer-willing-seller basis, with
inhabitants in any residential area not obliged to join the service being provided there.
Private companies use superior waste storage technology than NCC. They supply, on
a regular basis, either 25-kg plastic bags for individual households or 200-kg drums
for high-rise apartments. Some companies, moreover, supply neat hard plastic storage
- One firm reported during our survey that it retaliates by depositing waste collected from other clients
at the defaulters’ entrance.