From waste to wealth: How an innovative application is adding value to household waste
By Caroline Kiarie- Kimondo
Head of Exploration, UNDP Accelerator Lab Kenya
Household waste in Nairobi likely ends up in dumpsites such as the Dagoreti dumpsite, Kitengela dumpsite and other landfill dumpsites in the county. According to the Ministry of Environment and Forestry, Kenya’s capital city Nairobi generates an estimated 2,400 tons of solid waste every day, 20% of which is in plastic form.
While dumpsites are often danger-filled sites, they are also a source of livelihood for many informal waste workers. Landfill dumpsites provide an opportunity for waste workers to provide for themselves and their families by scavenging and selling redeemable waste products.
Regeneration of waste creates opportunities for businesses such as the production of building bricks from plastic waste and providing raw material for plastic and metal production. This however is only possible if the waste is separated, sorted, and treated in a way that makes recycling achievable. For household waste, this means engaging households in practices that support them present sorted and separated waste for disposal.
In August 2021, the UNDP Accelerator Lab partnered with Taka ni Mali, a community-based foundation, and the County Government of Kajiado to conduct an experiment exploring the impact of household behaviour change on the volume of waste in landfill dumpsites. The premise of the experiment was that, if household waste is properly managed at the source, it becomes more valuable to consumers of raw waste material and as such less waste ends up at dumpsites (and/or water sources). The process of waste management increases the value of waste as well as opportunities for job and business creation from waste.
Household behaviour and experiences in waste management
The experiment involved the mobilization and engagement of 99 households in Kitengela. Kitengela is a town 30 km south of Nairobi and is part of the Nairobi Metropolitan Area. From the experiment, it was observed that most people do not separate their waste because of challenges such as the availability of waste bags, ease of moving and storing the separated waste and limited knowledge of the benefits of sorting waste. Most households used private collection service providers who would provide them with at most 1 waste bag per week and collect the waste once a week. Only a proportion (35%) of the participating households were engaged in waste separation and regeneration. Most of those did so for farming purposes. Few households saw themselves as responsible for waste management. Many saw it as a responsibility of the County Government, landlord or property managers.
An innovative solution to managing household waste
Participating households were encouraged to download a mobile application that they would use to initiate a request for waste collection from Taka Taka ni Mali. There was also an option to use a USSD for those that could not use the mobile application. Households were provided with colour-coded bags to facilitate the separation of waste. Through the application, the households would initiate a request to have their separated waste collected. From the application, they would see which waste collector would be deployed to their house and when they would arrive.
The mobile application and USSD provided a visual platform for the households to see how much waste they were producing and would trace the journey of their waste to the final destination which was the Kitengela County Waste Management Entrepreneurship Hub. This is a facility sponsored by the County Government as a collection centre for raw and sorted waste for waste value chain players The application also featured a level-based reward system through the accrual of points for every kilogram of sorted waste presented to the waste collector. The use of points was to incentivize and reward engagement from the household.
Insights and findings from the experiment
1. Behaviour and attitude change are essential in ensuring sustainable and long-lasting waste management practices. Most households would be amenable to sorting their waste if there was an appreciation of their effort and if the process was not cumbersome. Using incentives whether monetary or emotion-based has been found to influence people’s behaviour and practices in waste management.
2. Digitalization can play a significant role in shifting waste management practices. Through technology, it may be possible to keep track of waste as it navigates from source to destination and it can provide marketplaces for waste, connecting producers of waste-to-waste handlers and consumers of recycled or regenerated waste.
3. Decentralization of waste management is important. All stakeholders in the waste management cycle must appreciate their role and responsibility in proper waste management. This may be possible by promoting the value of waste at all levels of the waste cycle and making it easy and affordable for more stakeholders to be engaged. In the experiment, facilitating households with the tools and information to manage their waste helped them see the value in their waste. With the waste sorted, there was an increased demand which saw more jobs created for informal waste workers.
4. Waste separation and sorting at the household level have an impact on the volume and nature of waste that ends up at landfill dumpsites. A total of 18,705 Kilograms were collected between September and December of 2021 through the experiment. The nature of the waste made it possible for all of it to be sold to consumers of recycled waste products. This greatly impacts the volume of waste at the dumpsite and the environment.
Conclusion
Incentivizing sustainable waste management practices for producers and value chain players has great potential to reduce the volume of waste at landfill dumpsites. There is an opportunity for more actors to play a role in the waste management cycle when waste is sorted and separated at waste.
