Photo Essay: Sustainable Waste Management in Taita Taveta County (The Story of Chakaleri Material Recovery Center)
The county has largely depended on municipal garbage collection services with no official involvement of the private or the informal sector.
The Civil Society Urban Development Platform (CSUDP) team interaction with a group of informal waste workers revealed the hurdles they face daily;
Marginalization and harassment from the municipal administrators;
Precarious and unsafe work conditions exposure to hazardous and dangerous work sites without any form of protective gear.
Exploitation by the middle men.
Taita Taveta County generates about 195 tons of solid waste per day, only 30% of it is collected and disposed of properly and a mere 1% recovered for recycling. The rest ends up in open dumps, rivers, or the ocean, polluting the land and water resources.
Every day, informal waste pickers visit open dump sites and landfills for collection and segregation.
Waste picking involves a large number of vulnerable and marginalized urban residents mainly women and youth who depend on the waste industry for their livelihoods.
To address the solid waste management challenges in the county, the county government of Taita Taveta within the framework of the County’s Solid Waste Management Strategy recently developed with the support of the Go Blue Project has relocated the Chakaleri dumpsite and in its place-built so far the largest Material Recovery Facility (MRF) in Kenya.
All recyclable materials such as plastic bottles, rubber, metal, etc. are then sold to middlemen, that is, the intermediate and apex traders who serve as a link to recyclers at the end of the waste value chain.
EU Ambassador, H.E Henriette Geiger
The Chakaleri Material Recovery Facility sets the stage for Taita-Taveta County to significantly and sustainably divert more materials from landfills and establish the County’s community-led circular waste management system creating the framework for the integration of the informal waste workers into the county’s waste management system.
EU Ambassador, H.E Henriette Geiger & Taita Taveta County Governor Hon. Andrew Mwadime in The Chakaleri MRF Groundbreaking Ceremony
Taita Taveta Conty Governor Hon. Andrew Mwadime together with UN Habitat Officials, CSUDP CEO George Wasonga and Eco Build Africa Officials
EU Ambassador, H.E Henriette Geiger during the Groundbreaking Ceremony
CSUDP CEO George Wasonga together with Taita Taveta County Government Officials visiting existing recycling centers in Voi
