The Nairobi County government has threatened to revoke the licences of Community-Based Organisations (CBOs) and private waste collection service providers who are dumping waste at unlawful sites.
In a statement on Saturday, June 21, the Nairobi County Environment Chief Officer Geoffrey Mosiria said that the county government will revoke the licenses of any CBO or private operator caught dumping their waste ulawfully.
Mosiria has further stated that his department has also launched an operation to identify and shut down unlawful dumping sites across the city.
According to Mosiria, the reckless dumping of waste has not only compromised the environmental fitness of the country's capital but also public health.
"I want to issue a stern warning to all Community-Based Organisations (CBOs) and private waste collection service providers using trucks: Stop dumping waste at illegal sites immediately," Mosiria stated.
"This reckless behaviour is a major contributor to the pollution affecting our environment and public health. Any CBO or private operator found dumping at unauthorised sites will have their licenses revoked without further notice," he added.
Additionally, Mosiria said that Nairobi is currently utilising the county fleet for waste collection because contracts for county-contracted waste collection firms have expired, a factor that he claimed has led to the accumulation of garbage.
The county government, according to Mosiria, has further deployed teams to oversee the cleaning of Gikomba Market and other large markets, which he notes have been generating large amounts of waste daily.
"This gap has significantly affected our operations, leading to the accumulation of garbage across the city, as our current internal capacity is not sufficient to manage the over 3,500 tonnes of waste generated daily, most of it being organic," he said.
This comes days after Mosiri announced, in a statement on Wednesday, June 18, that tea and coffee hawkers will be required to transition to the backstreets of the city, just like other hawkers.
According to Mosiria, the tea and coffee hawkers are using disposable cups and single-use plastic bags to sell their products.
The plastic bags, which he claims are being dumped across the city anyhow, end up blocking the drainage system and eventually lead to flooding during rainy seasons.
"We have noted with great concern the rapid increase of tea and coffee hawkers in the CBD who are using disposable cups and single-use plastic bags. Most of them do not carry litter bins to manage waste after their customers consume their products," Mosiria said.
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