The Solid Waste Management sector is  in crisis as it has been neglected for fifteen years. The Nairobi City Council is responsible for garbage collection services but due to mismanagement and corruption the resources are no longer available and this "essential service" has been left to the private sector. Of the 70 or so private operators there are one or two who are responsible in their operations but the vast majority of " garbage collectors" simply throw the garbage where they believe it will have the least chance of them being caught by the City Inspectorate, and if by chance they are caught all they do is pay a bribe.

BINS like all other operators is licensed by the Nairobi City Council to dispose of collected garbage at the Dandora dumping site and adheres to this requirement strictly. However, the site itself and the management of the disposal of the garbage are inadequate for today's need's, a problem BINS has said should be addressed urgently. BINS has been advocating the closure of Dandora and opening of transfer stations (run by the private sector) even before JICA proposed this in their 1998 study of the future of Solid Waste Management in Nairobi. A transfer station is a "processing centre" where garbage is separated into its constituent parts e.g. paper, plastic, bottles, textile, organic matter etc. and then resold , reused, or recycled; in Kenya as in all developing countries "waste" is a valuable resource and we must make the most of it to reduce pollution, to reduce the amount of raw materials needed in production and ensure that energy is not lost through the disposal of valuable recyclable material. BINS has put a proposal together for this project and is currently lobbying for support from both the Government and the donor community for the funding necessary to start it up.

"Proper planning and goodwill is needed in order to succeed in  waste management"

It is forecast that waste generation will grow by 80 per cent from approximately 1,500 tons per day today to 2,700 tons per day in 2008. We are unable to cope with the garbage menace now therefore it is vital that to cope with this increase the infrastructure be put in place as soon as possible. The stakeholders in the Solid Waste Management sector need to set up a task force that puts together a well thought out policy framework which is then followed up by the implementation of strict Rules and Regulations as to how those in the industry go about their operations; an enforcement agency is also needed to ensure adherence.

With all the experience garnered over the last 12 years BINS believes the right approach is that the day-to-day operations of the industry are placed in the hands of the private sector and enforcement is carried out by the public sector with operators being strictly monitored. This should be done through licensing and the imposition of very strict rules and regulations, especially regarding health and safety and the proper disposal of rubbish. This is an essential component to protect the environment. Kenyans must realise that garbage poses a real health risk to humans, animals and the environment in general.

"Solid Waste Management has become a very topical issue in the last few years and must be addressed urgently, failure to do this now only spells a time bomb in the next few years" asserts Peter Shewan, BINS Managing Director.

The coming into law of the Environmental Management and Coordination Act (1999) means that the Solid Waste Management (SWM) industry is likely to change considerably over the next few years. The Managing Director, Peter Shewan says that BINS is ready to co-operate with the relevant government authorities to ensure its full implementation and enforcement and even recommends to go a step further and publish a Bill  specifically for the Solid Waste Management (SWM) sector. It is essential with the growing population and increasing consumerism that the industry is set up now to deal with the growth in waste generation and the subsequent impact on the environment, and that only responsible operators, whose prime concern is the protection of our environment be licensed to work in the sector.