How NMS plans to tackle Nairobi garbage

Nairobi Metropolitan Services (NMS) is banking on increased number of garbage contractors, casual labourers and enforcement agencies to end perennial garbage problem in Nairobi.

As the capital city continues to reel under heavy mounds of solid waste, NMS is looking at the triple strategy to ensure waste generation and collection are at par. 

NMS targets to increase garbage collection to 3,200 tons daily by next year.

Currently, the state agency collects 2,800 tons of garbage generated in the city daily against a target of 3,000 tons.

Nairobi generates 3,000 metric tons of waste in a day but this increases by about 20,000 tons every year due to increase in population.

According to NMS boss Lieutenant General Mohamed Badi, they have managed to increase daily solid waste collection from an average of 1,800 tons last year to 2,800.

Casual labourers

However, the aim is to further increase the daily collection to 3,000 tons this year and then 3,200 tons next year by roping in casual labourers in the collection process as well as the services of street families.

“We intend to increase the tonnage of waste collected for final disposal per day from the current 2,800 to 3,200 tons by the beginning of the next financial year,” said NMS.

NMS has engaged solid waste contractors who are assisting in garbage collection in the city estates. It has also increased the number of garbage collection trucks to 205.

The contractors are expected to pick garbage at designated points across the city’s 85 wards.

They have also contracted additional casual labourers besides collaborating with the National Youth Service to increase daily collection and disposal of solid waste.

NMS has also designated 35 new garbage collection points across the city, a move aimed at ending the proliferation of illegal dumping sites in Nairobi.  

Waste generated in Nairobi mostly end at the city’s largest dumping site, Dandora Dumpsite.

The dumpsite is already reeling under the weight of excessive solid waste, holding over 1.8 million tons of waste against an expected capacity of 500, 000 tons.

Waste regeneration plant

To ease the pressure on the dumpsite, NMS plans to set up a waste recycling plant in Ruai, Nairobi. To feed the plant, material recovery facilities (MRFs) will be established across Nairobi.

The recovery facilities will ensure there are designated waste collection points that allow for secondary segregation, recovery and reuse in the capital city.

The NMS boss said the waste recovery facilities will be in each of the 17 city sub-counties.

Some of the MRFs will also be within public premises such as parks and markets.  

According to the plan, six of the material recovery facilities will be constructed in this financial year and another seven in the next fiscal year.

The re-engineered dumpsites will act as methane gas collection points for electricity generation. 

NMS also plans to finish construction of a sanitary landfill for final disposal of collected waste as well as the completion of the central composting facility.

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