Why converting waste to energy in Nairobi may end in failure

Like other leaders before them, President William Ruto and Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja have brought up the issue of waste-to-energy conversion in the capital city with the focus being the Dandora dumpsite. 

That would be a tall order. Studies done in Nairobi, and especially in the said dumpsite, with the main interest of what Nairobians generate as waste shows it may never work.

Prominent examples include cases in Ethiopia and South Africa, which started the main plants for waste-to-energy projects that have all failed. You can only convert waste to energy in plants that will either do blasting or gasification, whereby all the waste is burnt to produce the energy required.

However, the Dandora dumpsite is not the ideal place for that. Whatever reaches Dandora is quickly separated by the waste pickers. We need all the waste to generate power. The composition of waste generated in Nairobi has proved to be almost 60 per cent of organic matter, which is not ideal for electricity generation.

The city should focus more on the Ruai treatment works, where methane gas can be trapped and used as alternative energy because it is there in plenty. If it cannot generate energy, the gas can be used as a form of carbon credit. The clean development mechanism (CDM) allows this and it is internationally accepted. 

Way to go

Decommissioning the Dandora dumpsite, as many studies have proposed, is the way to go. The government should pursue the proposal to move the waste from Nairobi to a rural place, where it can go full blast with composting, which will benefit the local farmers.

Mark you, the city authorities had already secured land in Murang’a for this through the Nairobi Metropolitan Services but politicians in that county failed to smell the coffee.

The Dandora dumpsite is full. The county government should utilise the land it occupies—since it cannot be used for housing development—in another way.

For instance, it can host a solar project—which is clean energy, whereby panels will be installed to supply power to Nairobi residents until the waste settles down. It happens in developed nations like Japan and it can work very well in Kenya.

We should move away from the obsolete to modern ways of waste management. The case of Gioto dumpsite, in Nakuru County, which is also almost full, comes to mind. Its being on an incline, polluting Lake Nakuru, highlights the importance of waste segregation and value addition. 

Good waste managers should always remember to explore better ways of improving the environment through new innovations. The best, however, is segregation and value addition. We should focus on the principles guiding waste management: Reuse, reduce, recycle and, to an extent, refuse waste.

Mr Kigo is an environmentalist. [email protected].