From trash to treasure: Kenya’s green market leading in waste management

NAIROBI | Xinhua |  At the Karatina market in Nyeri County, central Kenya, Samuel Mutua and his team start their day early, collecting and sorting garbage into organic and inorganic waste.

Although Karatina is classified as a green market, it generates both types of waste due to the wide variety of goods sold, including packaging materials and plastics. Mutua estimates that 60-70 percent of the market’s waste is organic.

By 11 a.m., the team loads the sorted garbage onto a Chinese-made three-wheeler, transporting non-biodegradable waste to a disposal site while delivering organic waste to the recycling center.

This daily routine, in place for the past two years, has transformed solid waste management at Karatina.

Mutua, acting manager of Biogas International Limited at the Karatina recycling center, explained that the organic waste is processed into compost manure and biogas. The Kenyan company designs practical technology to address challenges for rural farmer, with biogas helping reduce tree felling for wood fuel and mitigating health risks from smoke.

The company sells compost manure and liquid fertilizer at 38 U.S. cents per kg or liter. The team also grows organic vegetables like kale and spinach using these products at their demonstration farms.

“As a result, we do not need synthetic fertilizers to boost our crops because the compost is a compound organic fertilizer,” Mutua told Xinhua.

Since beginning their recycling efforts in 2022, Mutua and his team initially collected about three tonnes of waste daily — two tonnes of organic and one tonne of inorganic. However, this amount has now decreased to between one and two tonnes as they have educated traders on the many uses of waste.

Solid waste management has long been a significant challenge at the Karatina market and many other towns across Kenya. Despite this, Mutua believes that all waste disposed of by the county government at dump sites holds potential value.

Traders at the market have noted a marked improvement since the team started daily garbage collection. Previously, with trash collected only once a week, the market often became unmanageable.

“When they were loading the seven-day-old garbage into trucks, the entire area would be messy, and many traders and customers avoided the market on those days,” Esther Nyakio, a trader, told Xinhua. “Now, we are grateful to work in a clean environment that is conducive for business.”

However, Mutua and his team’s efforts face challenges. They have struggled to educate traders on the importance of sorting garbage on-site to streamline their work. Additionally, many still prefer synthetic fertilizers over compost due to a lack of awareness about the health benefits of organically grown food.

Consumers also shy away from organic produce because it tends to be more expensive than conventionally grown options. For instance, a kg of organic kale sells for 77 cents, while its inorganic counterpart costs just 15 cents.

“Our future goal is to expand and establish recycling centers throughout the county,” Mutua said. ■