I aimed to find out what the informants thought about the main problems preventing a functional SWM system from being established and running, what the solutions to the problems could be, and how the future of SWM looks in the case of Nairobi. What emerged from the
interviews was that each respondent identified multiple issues on how the SWM in Nairobi is carried out and that there are issues on all levels of the system. Starting from the governmental level, the local governments were recognized and mentioned by all to officially be in charge of collecting and treating waste, but also known for not actually doing that job, neither currently nor for the last couple of decades. The informants highlighted the private and informal sectors as the reasons why things actually are taken care of, both because they see that waste is a problem that needs to be fixed and because they see the economic potential that lies within waste and therefore take advantage of it. While the private and informal sectors were seen as responsible and important in the SWM system in Nairobi, the local governments are not seen as taking responsibility for something that is, in fact, their assigned job. The views of the local government in taking responsibility can be underscored in the two following quotes:
“… this function is allocated to the government, you know the county government, they are meant to take up the responsibility of cleaning the waste in Nairobi, which unfortunately just never happens” (Waste Company A).
“… they’re not exactly a shining light of responsibility” (Waste Company B).
However, one did not think the local government was at fault for not doing the complete SWM job and that it was not the employees’ lacking interest in doing the job that stopped the local government from collecting, transporting, and disposing of waste. Rather the problem starts at a higher level of government with a lack of investments and budgetary allocations, manpower, and capacity in their job made it impossible for them to do, and if they had been allocated these resources, they would do the job.
6.1.2 Lacking relevant technology
Lacking technology and facilities were reasons mentioned several times, combined with the fact that it is just easier and less costly for both people and corporations to dump the waste, rather than to figure out the proper, sustainable way of dealing with it. Even for those who want to deal with their waste properly, finding someone who appropriately takes care of the waste in a facility with good technology that also focuses on the health and safety of the employees is difficult. Technological developments are not advanced and widespread, and they are costly;
therefore, it becomes easier to throw everything in one bin than to sort out what to do with it.
This goes for both individuals and companies, as clearly stated by one informant: “It's so easy
for any individual or corporate, just to chuck stuff out and know it'll go away, then to have to pay for it to be done properly” (Waste Company B).
6.1.3 Lack of awareness
This ties to another reason mentioned by everyone: the lack of awareness, knowledge, or understanding about waste, what to do with it, how, and why, both on individual and corporate levels. This lack of social responsibility and getting people to understand their own role in the process was seen as a main problem for the failing system, in addition to the lack of action taken by the local government. The waste life cycle starts before something is thrown in the bin, and people could contribute to making the process easier by separating waste at home.
However, most people do not have any form of segregation at home, and the process of first finding out where it can be taken to for proper disposal and then knowing what type of waste goes in which bin contributes to preventing people from doing this themselves. Even with the opportunity to segregate at home, knowledge about which materials belong in which container is crucial, and facilitation to make this as easy as possible for the consumers is necessary since people do not have the knowledge. As one informant stated:
“I would have to sort out all sorts of waste, first I need a bin that has all three parts. That means I also need space. I need to understand materials and the contents. Like if I use the Tetrapack it has aluminum and it’s paper. If I use foil, but it’s oiled … we don’t understand waste and what is waste, and what waste is useful … We don’t understand it. We cannot do something we don’t understand. I think that’s the first problem” (Waste Specialist B).
6.1.5 Poverty and differences between rich and poor
Segregating waste was also mentioned to be an issue of class and something that is just for the upper-middle class and upper class of society to do. The lower classes are already suffering from many other and more serious problems and therefore being concerned with segregating waste at home is unlikely to take place without proper incentives. “The issue is of poverty, you know most people are concerned about earning the basic livelihoods, looking for money for food, daily food, daily wages so they really not mind about waste and how it is managed, they have other, bigger things to mind about” (Waste Specialist A). Waste itself was mentioned to be a very class-oriented issue in general, where only those who can afford it can deal with it properly and they are not forced to live next to waste or to work with waste. Waste picking was mentioned to be the last resort for people to earn money and, therefore, not something done by
less poor people. Additionally, wealthy people live far away from dumpsites and are generally treated with proper waste collection services, and thus do not need to think much about waste in their daily lives. “[The waste] is taken away from the suburbs and moved into the rural areas. So, you know, people in the leafy suburbs are not experiencing that much [littering], but you know, you go into the rural areas and that's where all the [waste] is going” (Waste Company D).
6.1.6 No proper legislation in place
Lack of proper legislation and policies was also mentioned as a very problematic issue, and that for waste to be dealt with sustainably proper waste legislation needs to be put in place. It was said that currently, there is no legislation forcing people to segregate waste at home, preventing illegal dumping or making recycling mandatory. It was said that without legislation, there is nothing holding corporations and manufacturers responsible for either production or disposal of products, and there is nothing guiding people along the right way, and then they do not know what they are doing. One mentioned that if the proper legislation was there, forcing people to segregate waste at home, combined with the proper infrastructure making it easy for people to segregate at home then have it collected, Kenyans (from the middle and upper classes) would gladly do it. However, it was also mentioned by one respondent that a big problem in Kenya is corruption, and just creating new laws and policies will not necessarily help the situation, rather it could create new occasions to break the laws to earn money or other personal gains: “The problem in Kenya is really not about legislation all the time. It's about corruption and people getting around the law. So having the law is one thing, but that often just provides an opportunity for people to even pay to ignore it rather than follow it. Corruption is our biggest challenge” (Waste Company B). Corruption, vested interests, and cartels were also pointed out as the main problems by another respondent, and that Nairobi could improve their waste management system by cutting the losses of those gaining anything from the current system: “I'd say corruption. Nairobi has so much vested interest that leaves money in everything. [...] So that cartels is such a lucrative business. And many times a bunch of those cartels are sitting in governmental offices. […] if Nairobi wanted to organize waste management, they just cut the losses of whoever is benefiting from dumping at the dumpsites”
(Waste Company C).
6.1.7 Unexploited economic opportunity
Finally, it was seen as a problem that the economic opportunity is ignored or not understood, and therefore a whole employment sector lies untapped. Kenya is a country with a growing
economy, but not yet strong and with a majority of people still working in the informal sector.
Therefore, waste management is an opportunity to employ people, reduce the burden on the environment, and generate income that should have been taken already.
Kenya has an economy that there is hardly any money, there’s hardly any jobs. I feel like this is a sector that would cover all three things, People, Planet, Profit (Waste Specialist B).