Nairobi residents to pay Sh100 for garbage disposal

Nairobi residents will benefit from new charges for waste disposal as the county moves to implement the finance bill on solid waste management.

According to Finance Bill 2013, domestic waste disposal will attract a fee of Sh100 while commercial premises and institutions will part with Sh300 for the service.

The county is now set to roll out a campaign to subscribe clients to the service after acquiring new garbage collection trucks.

Speaking while flagging off the11 new trucks, Nairobi Governor Evans Kidero said the county would require about 50 garbage collection truck to effectively dispose the over 2000 metric tonnes of solid waste generated from the county each day.

“This new fleet of 11 of garbage trucks with the goal of boosting the city government capacity which was only collecting between 850 and 1,100 tonnes daily,” he said.

Mr Kidero warned the city council drivers not to sabotage the vehicles urging them to take care of the vehicles as their source of livelihoods.

Dagoreti North Member of parliament Simba Arati had cautioned Kidero that during his time at City hall drivers were known to dismantle new vehicle and sell spare parts in months within acquisition.

According to county Environment Director, Dr Leah Oyake, county has budgeted to total of Sh256 million for 31 trucks to scale up garbage collection 1300metric tonnes. This includes a private company, Creative Consolidated which has been collecting 260tonnes of wastes a day since early this month.

The county will acquire 20 more trucks by mid-April to boost the number to 44 with 17 of the 19 side loaders expected to be deployed to each sub county.

The county government has also limited the number of private companies operating in the CBD to decongest the city. City hall claims that through new stringent operational standard they have managed to reduce the number of companies running the business in the city from 56 to 10.

Garbage collection companies with a minimum of 100 client base must now operate closed truck with a capacity of over 10 tonnes which must be branded.

No pick-ups are allowed to collect garbage in the CBD while those who qualify must supply clients with branded liner bags so that wastes that are disposed irresponsible can be tracked back to the companies.

The city is also in the process of instituting a Sh28.9 billion integrated waste management plan for a waste-to-energy project.

The city plans to upgraded Dandora Market and Oyake indicated that they were at advanced stages of setting up a perimeter wall and dividing the dumpsite to for the project. The waste-to-energy project is expected to generate up to 50Megawats of energy according to Dr. Kedero.

Mr Kidero also urged Nairobi residents to take charge of waste disposal adding that they should participate in the project by using the colour coated bins launched around the city to separate wastes from the collection points.