Here's the app cleaning Kajiado households

Imagine requesting for a waste collector from the comfort of your mobile phone... well, that could soon be a possibility if the development of a new mobile application is anything to go by.

The app that has been developed by Takataka ni Mali (waste is wealth) initiative could soon come to revolutionise the chaotic waste management industry in the city if not the country.

The app is the brain child of industrialist Mary Ngechu, who, through the innovation, seeks to roll out this unique model that could become a game changer in the waste management industry in the country.

Once fully rolled out, it will allow Kenyans who will register for the app to seek waste collection services through a touch of a button.

Those with smart phones and want to use the app dubbed ‘Taka Taka ni Mali’ will be required to download it from the playstore after which they register.

The registration process entails prospective app users filling in their names, contacts, email and physical address of where they live.

They are then required to key in their zones, which will be guided by where they live before creating a password for their accounts.

Those who do not have a smart phone are also catered for. They will be required to dial *483*047# after which they will register as a household.

Residents who download the app will just be required to be signing in and make a request to have their waste collected.

Upon signing in and making the request, the message is then relayed to the nearest waste collector, who arranges with the household on when to collect the waste.

The application links households to waste collectors, who respond to the raised collection requests .

Ms Ngechu tells Healthy Nation that the model is made up of an ecosystem which comprises the households, collectors, aggregators and recyclers.

The collectors then pick the dry waste from households, which are recyclable materials, and sell them to aggregators.

The aggregators then sort and separate the waste into plastics, glasses and paper and pack it ready for recyclers’ to buy.

This, they do in accordance with the Sustainable Waste Management Act which requires that the waste material is sorted out at the source before it’s taken to recyclers.

She reveals the mobile application has four interfaces for households, waste collectors, aggregators and recyclers.

“The interface allows the households to engage with the collectors, the collectors to engage with the aggregators and recyclers and vice-versa,” Ms Ngechu says.

Ms Ngechu in 2017 founded the Takataka ni Mali initiative, which educates women and youth on management of waste, mainly plastics, and how to profit from it.

Courtesy of the initiative, the waste pickers who have been put in groups are then linked to aggregators and recyclers who buy the ‘raw materials’ from them.

To smoothen the process, they have established collection centres dubbed the Waste Management Entrepreneurship Hubs , where the waste is normally taken after collection from households then sorted,cleaned before the recyclers can pick them.

The project has so far been implemented in Kajiado County where at the moment more than 500 households have registered and are using the app.

So far, the initiative boasts of more than 1,000 collectors and about 35 aggregators. Each aggregator is working with about 30 collectors.

Plans are underway to launch the app in other counties such as Nakuru, Taita-Taveta and Isiolo.

Michael Kalo, the project coordinator, says they are seeking to create an ecosystem where everybody can come and do the waste business.

Mr Kalo says the project is currently collecting more than three tonnes of waste every week, with the groups involved each making up to Sh40,000.

He reveals they are working with caretakers to mobilise tenants and enrol them in the program.

With about 80 per cent of all waste being recyclable, Kalo notes it is the high time that Kenyans realise the value of waste in developing the economy.

“Anyone can make money if there is a well-structured system of where people can take their waste. This will also help to greatly improve our environment by making our surroundings clean,” he says.

Game changer

Joshua Keraka, a resident of Kitengela, says since he started using the mobile app, he has had great experience while managing waste as a household user.

He notes the app has encouraged him to practise a proper waste management culture, a thing he was not doing before.

“The mobile app has been a game changer for me since I just need to request for the waste collector from wherever I am. It is very efficient and one can request for his or her waste to be collected any time they wish,” Mr Keraka tells Healthy Nation. 

The innovation has helped him learn of waste segregation at the source. This includes separating and sorting the various categories of waste other than having it all in one waste bin as mixed. He adds that the app’s interface is user friendly and easy to navigate from one interface to another. 

The app has been developed with the support from United Nations Development Program, Ernst and Young and the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office. 

The initiative is also seeking to enlist a point model where residents in the programme accumulate points that they can in return redeem and get gift vouchers and other goodies.

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