Stakeholder's involvement in municipal solid waste management : a case study of Nairobi city county- Kenya

Abstract

Municipal solid waste management (MSWM) constitute a serious problem in most cities in the developing countries. Most of them do not collect in totality the solid waste generated and from the amount collected only a small fraction is properly disposed. This unsustainable SW handling has acted a source of land, air and water pollution, thus, posing risk to humans and the environment as waste find its way on street, roadside and open fields. Most literatures claim that the increase of waste is as a result of urbanization, economic growth and globalization especially in the developing countries. The situation has led cities to increasingly invest in research, technology, infrastructures improvement and formation of a strong legislation in attempting to refurbish the failing SWM systems. But with the current conventional system of SW approach might not allow these attempts to gain stability. It is for this reason this paper examines decentralized approach effectiveness in solving the SWM problems and further supporting these effort using the city of Nairobi as a case study. The current convectional SWM approach system in operational in the city of Nairobi is bureaucratic, relays on imported technology, dominates other stakeholders and focuses on a centralized system. On the other hand, the decentralized system stresses on stakeholders involvement and recognizes their input in daily SWM decision making process. Using qualitative research method as a method of approach, this research attempted to explore the root cause for the increasing unsustainable SW disposal within the city and to the level the stakeholders are responsible. The method included the face to face and telephone interview questionnaires, observation and past research on SWM conducted on behalf of the city of Nairobi and other cities around the world in order to gain deeper understanding of the SWM system. After the research, the principle cause for the continued rise in unsustainable SWM in Nairobi was found to be basic social factors such as trust, responsibility, communication and commitment breakdown amongst the stakeholders This paper proposes a policy framework for SWM system and urges a decentralized approach for SWM to be applied to the condition prevalent in Nairobi. The model proposed includes involvement of the stakeholders, awareness and county department coordination among other recommendations. This approach could assist cities or organizations when solving environmental related problems and projects in a socially desirable, economically viable and environmentally sound manner. The advantage of this model is that it creates an avenue to encourage a 3R initiative for the material being disposed and in the long run assist in improving the SWM systems.