Cleaning up Kenya’s slums

Kenya’s capital Nairobi is infamous for having some of the most dense, unsanitary and insecure slums in the world. There are over 200 slums, housing nearly half of the city’s population. And with an annual growth rate of seven per cent over the last two decades, Nairobi remains one the fastest-growing cities in Africa. Kenya’s political turmoil is contributing to the widening of the poverty gap.

Environclean Community Group became active in 2007 as a not-for-profit social enterprise seeking to fix some of the problems in Kenya’s slums through waste management. The group’s aims are: to create mini-recycling sites in low-income neighbourhoods; to provide environmental education, especially in schools in disadvantaged areas; and to create green opportunities for disadvantaged youth.

We chose our first slum, Lunga Lunga in Makadara Ward, after meeting with an official of a community-based organisation (CBO) operating in the area. The original agenda was to clean up the slums, establish mini-recycling centres and create a ‘cottage industry’, a system of domestic manufacturing, to absorb the majority of the unemployed. As we started to consult with the community, however, it became clear to us that we had to solve more basic problems first.

Sanitation in Lunga Lunga is poor, with pit latrines being the most common sanitary facilities. Flying toilets, where polythene and paper bags are used as feces containers, then wrapped and thrown anywhere, are a common phenomenon. Tenants without toilets use those of their neighbours at a fee or use the bush – especially along the Ngong River – which leads to an increase in waterborne diseases and unpleasant odours.

As it was unrealistic to wait for the implementation of large-scale urban upgrading projects, many of which have been promised for decades, the idea to build bio-latrines was initiated by Lunga Lunga self-help youth group, after seeing other successful sanitation facilities in China, India and Vietnam. 

A bio-latrine is a simple, sustainable, raw sewage treatment centre, also creates two useful byproducts: compost and biogas. The Lunga Lunga bio-center, to be completed in October at a cost of 3 million Kenyan shillings (£22,500), will include eight toilets, four showers and two water taps. What’s more, it saves water by not using it to flush away waste. Instead, the waste is fed directly to the bio-digester, which then produces biogas for cooking, heating and lighting.

Under our scheme, CBOs seeking to build these facilities procure permission from the civic authorities, sponsors provide 90 per cent of funds and Environclean commits to sourcing finance and maintaining these facilities for 25 years at minimum charge.

 Another project in the same community revolves around the recycling of waste film plastic. Groups collect packaging and carrier bags and sell them to a co-operative that is equipped with machines to transform them into roof tiles and fence posts.

We are also turning our attention to dumps. Every day, Nairobi’s population of 4.5 million, deposits 2,000 tonnes of rubbish, 60 per cent of which is organic, at an open dump site.. Scores of people use the dump to find food, recyclables and other valuables to sell as a source of income. They are exposed to noxious fumes from waste burning and methane fires. As the site is close to Nairobi river, water pollution also occurs.

As an organisation, we have realised the problems of the dump can only be solved if we create a controlled and well-managed waste-processing facility. We want to make resource recovery an integral part of recycling in Nairobi. In addition, in partnership with UN HABITAT, we are keen to introduce easy, sustainable solutions to house construction in slums using recycled items or ideas.

Mini-recycling centres do exist in Kenya, but they are small-scaled and poorly organised. Our idea is to scale up these centres by introducing kerbside recycling systems of glass, plastics, tins, wood, textiles and kitchen waste. The aim is to encourage consumers to separate waste at source: the waste ‘scavenger’ would then take this waste to the mini-centers were it would be sorted out into the correct skips going to a materials recovery facility (MRF).

The MRF building block will be a rotary drum composter, comprised of a large drum and a conveyer belt. At one end, workers will sift through the waste, removing plastics, aluminium, metal and cartons and placing them on the side. At the other end, compost would be put into barrels.

Our final focus is on education; in our first project planned for October 2008, we aim to talk to schools about using green spaces effectively, recycling and composting. We also hope to establish school gardens and community gardens in the slum areas. Eventually, we’d like to produce free environmental educational booklets about tree planting, composting, briquetting and recycling. Hopefully, we’ll lay the groundwork for future generations to carry on the campaign!