How we mine a tidy sum from heaps of garbage in Kisumu

Garbage collection will certainly not get the attention of many people as a great job. However, Dickens Ochieng has turned it into a thriving enterprise.

He even picked an interesting business name — Gasia Poa Waste Management Services — which he says aptly represents what he does: collecting and recycling waste including producing organic manure. (Gasia poa is Kiswahili for ‘waste is good’.)

Mr Ochieng’s is one of the biggest garbage collection companies in Kisumu County where they have segmented the market depending on where the clients live and what they do, from slums to big players like the Kisumu International Airport.

“We collect all types of solid waste, gardening to provision of organic manure,” he told Enterprise.

In 2003, Mr Ochieng was part of a self-help group of 17 people that was funded by SANA International, an NGO through which they visited slum areas in Kisumu to collect and manage waste, including safe disposal.

“The project funding included provision of equipment. Once the project wound up in 2006, four active members remained,” Mr Ochieng says.

The quartet benefited from a two-week training by the then Kisumu Municipal Council on how to make the enterprise sustainable and profitable.

Convinced that the idea could fly, Mr Ochieng applied for a Sh50,000 loan to start his company. He bought two hand carts for Sh30,000 and used the remainder to acquire garbage containers.

“For big clients like the Kisumu International Airport and major hotels, we hire the county’s garbage trucks for use on Sundays.”

Through market segmentation, Gasia Poa has footprints across the lakeside town from slums, non-governmental organisations, residential estates and the busy streets of Kisumu’s CBD.

Small clients pay between Sh200 and Sh500 a month while big businesses like hotels are charged about Sh15,000 every month.

It has employed 15 youth to collect waste daily and weekly using hand carts while also distributing eco-litter bags to clients at a fee, which varies with the type of client and zone.

They sell plastic waste to recycling entities but are also making extra cash through organic fertiliser which is sold to farmers across the county.

“A 50 kilogramme sack of organic manure goes for Sh1,000 while a 90kg one goes for Sh2,000. The market is lucrative considering that organic manure is cheaper compared to the rest,” the 37-year-old explains.

County authorities in major towns outside Nairobi state that increasing population in Kisumu, Mombasa, Nakuru and Meru have created a waste disposal nightmare that is difficult to keep up with.

Last year, the company was ranked third in the Taka Taka Challenge, a competition which encourages creating business solutions from waste. Mr Ochieng was awarded Sh111,000.

A report by the National Environment Management Authority (Nema) found that local authorities are financially, technically and institutionally weak and more often than not unable to discharge their mandate on waste management.

In Nairobi, for example, only 30 per cent of the garbage generated is effectively managed. Kisumu only disposes of 20 per cent of its trash while Nakuru and Mombasa equally fall short in handling waste.

Business opportunities

Kisumu County governor Jack Ranguma in July said the county’s proposal to have garbage recycling plants set up hit a snag after communities approached to lease, sell or cede land for the purpose refused.

The governor said lack of information on the safety, usability and business opportunities that come from waste has greatly hindered the relocation of the town’s dump site.

He acknowledged that the county’s hands are tied until a suitable location is found.

“We are even looking at centralising waste management in western Kenya counties. That way, we can pool resources and attract investors who can turn waste into wealth,” the governor said.