New mobile app to help fight Nairobi garbage menace

Nairobi residents can now report cases of illegal dumping and unsafe disposal of waste through a newly launched mobile application.

Dubbed Hatua, the application will allow users to file complaints on poorly disposed waste and report places strewn with garbage such as a bus stop, or garbage trucks dumping waste in residential areas.

The application designed by Kenya Alliance of Residents Association (Kara) in association with United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the European Union (EU), is aimed at improving service delivery across the county.

Henry Ochieng, chief executive officer of Kara said the app will help in solving the problems currently hampering the complaints system in Nairobi.

“Our current system of reporting environmental pollution is long, tedious and ridden with corruption,” he said.

He noted that reports filed by citizens are often left unattended while some files end up missing in the middle of an investigation.

Mr Ochieng said the new platform will ensure users can track their complaints and see the progress in real time.

Kara said most of the complaints relating to illegal dumping come from the informal settlements with Dandora, Eastleigh and Mathare being some of the most affected areas.

Piles of garbage can be seen in markets and sometimes in the middle of the roads.

Garbage collection still remains one of the major problems affecting Nairobi residents.

The city struggles with waste management with illegal dumpsites seen as the biggest hindrance to keeping the city clean.

There are still mounds of garbage in the city centre even as the Nairobi Metropolitan Services (NMS) says it is working to make Nairobi a garbage-free zone. In 2020, NMS hired temporary staff to help boost garbage collection and sweep streets clogged with uncollected garbage.

Despite all the efforts, NMS said it is able to collect only 2,500 tonnes of waste daily, up from 1,800 tonnes that was collected by the Nairobi County government. Nairobi generates 3,000 tonnes of waste in a day, most of which ends up at the city’s largest dumping site in Dandora.

The dumpsite is currently overstretched as it holds over 1.8 million tonnes of solid waste against a capacity of 500,000 tonnes.

Dr John Chumo, an official from the National Environmental Complaints Committee (NECC), lauded introduction of the application noting it will improve governance in terms of service delivery.

“The app will help NECC officials work even faster because they will be able to get reports of environmental pollution as they happen,” he said.

When users submit a complaint on Hatua, they have to choose one of the categories to describe the issue.