Solid Waste Management and Health Effects in Nairobi County, Kenya

Abstract

Solid waste management is important to Nairobi County because it ensures a healthy working environment for Nairobi residents thus increase productivity of the county hence the need of this study which was titled solid waste management and health effects in Nairobi County. The purpose of this study was to establish how solid waste are managed in Nairobi county, what was the impacts of SWMM on health in Nairobi county and what were the challenges faced in managing solid waste in Nairobi county, the study was guided by waste minimization theory, the research was descriptive survey where questionnaires were used to gather data from respondents who were environmental officers and residents of Nairobi county, data was analyzed using descriptive statistics, the findings of the study was that the dominant method used to manage waste in Nairobi county was controlled dumping to which 93.5 % of the respondents argued that was responsible for increase in incident counts of respiratory ailments in Nairobi county, the main challenge of SWM was illegal dump sites in Nairobi county. From the study I conclude that the methods put in place to manage waste in Nairobi county has adverse effects on the residents of Nairobi and thus I recommend that the county government to invest in technological ways of managing waste. The key limitation of the study was limited resources. Further research should be done on how to adopt technology to manage solid waste in Nairobi County.