Study Report Awareness on Environmentally Sound Solid Waste Management by Communities and Municipalities in Kenya

Abstract

The common practice in solid waste handling at source is to put all in a bin or any container, which is then collected by either municipal actors or their licensed agents. The waste is then taken to dumpsites and destroyed mainly through open burning. A long side delivery of waste to the dumpsite where it is burnt, individuals scavenge on materials that have some economic potential such as plastics, paper, glass, metal etc. Such recovery activities take place along the management chain as well as at the dumpsite by communities. This report presents findings of the study on Awareness of Environmentally Sound Solid Waste Management by communities and municipalities in the counties of Kisumu, Mombasa, Nairobi and Nakuru. The study was commissioned by United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) as part of implementation of the project “Sound Chemicals Management Mainstreaming and UPOPs reduction in Kenya” which aim to mainstream sound chemicals management and reduction of unintentionally produced persistent organic pollutants (U-POPs) from open burning of waste and thermal disposal of health care waste. The project is funded by Global Environment Facility (GEF) and implemented by Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (MENR) in collaboration with other government agencies (Ministry of Health and National Environment Management Authority), civil society organizations and private sector including Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM), Green Belt Movement and Kenya Disaster Concern.