Assessment of Residents’ Knowledge, Attitude and Practices on Solid Waste Management in Eastleigh South Ward, Nairobi, Kenya

Abstract

Solid waste disposal has grown into a big challenge in most developing countries arising from population growth and urbanization in the cities. Municipal authorities who are responsible in enforcing existing by-laws appear not to have the capacity to tackle the worsening situation of waste. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the locals' knowledge, attitudes, and practices around management of solid waste in Eastleigh South Ward, Nairobi, Kenya. Choosing Eastleigh South Ward as the study site was largely influenced by the fact that Eastleigh South Ward in Kamukunji Sub-County is one of Nairobi's more densely populated urban areas with a population density of 25,455 persons per km2. The study's goal was to look into Eastleigh South Ward people's solid waste management knowledge, attitudes and practices. The study anticipated that individuals' level of awareness has little bearing on the management of solid waste in Eastleigh South Ward. Further, the study hypothesized that resident’s attitudes do not affect management of solid waste in Eastleigh South Ward. The study was anchored on theory of planned behaviour proposed by Ajzen. Purposive sampling technique was employed in picking the buildings from where participants were drawn, respondents choice mainly depended on their availability and willingness to take part in the survey. Three methods were applied in data collection; questionnaires, key informant interviews and field observation. About 43% of the respondents indicated that most of the waste that was generated was from organic food remains. Another 43% indicated fruit and vegetable peelings as the source, while faeces and old clothing were cited by 12.2% and 1.9% of the respondents respectively. Inorganic waste was mainly generated from plastics according to 40.6% of the respondents while 18.9% and 5.5% respectively indicated inorganic waste was from obsolete cutlery, glass and metal. The prevailing methods of solid waste management included dumping onto the roadside and into the storm drainage systems as indicated by 48% of the respondents while placing waste in dump pits and open burning was cited by 43% of the respondents as the preferred method. Solid waste management was associated with many challenges including infrequent/irregular waste collection, (61% of respondents), unregularized dumping, low awareness of its adverse effects and consequent resident's apathy coupled with Nairobi County Government's casual manner of handling waste management issues. Unwillingness and avoidance of residents to contract private garbage collectors was also indicated as a contributing factor to poor waste management with only 5.1% of the participants indicating they were happy with the waste collection and disposal services.. Participants in the study were found to be informed on several areas of waste management. However, the respondents' attitude was found to be negative. From the participant’s responses 82.6% did not think that it was everybody's responsibility to manage waste. Another 48% of participants interviewed indicated that they had never participated in any clean-up exercise. In conclusion, knowledge did not influence attitude positively and waste management methods practiced were unsustainable and unhealthy to the environment. It was recommended that awareness be created alongside attitude development practices including sufficient equipment and enforcement of existing laws and regulations, and orderly collection schedules.