Dandora Dumpsite:
Struggling for health, security and dignity
By Oluoch Japheth Ogola and Fr Daniel Moschetti, mccj
The Dandora Municipal Dump Site, the only dump site in Nairobi is located 8 km away
from Nairobi’s Central Business District. It is adjacent to Korogocho slums, the fourth
largest slum in Nairobi with a population of about 120,000 inhabitants. The dumpsite has
been in place for over thirty years, a direct contravention of international environmental
laws, which require that dumpsites be closed down after ten to fifteen years of usage. The
site also affects Dandora, Kariobangi and Baba Dogo residents with a total population of
about 900,000 inhabitants. In fact, the over thirty acres of solid waste is encroaching into
the residential houses in Dandora.
The City Council of Nairobi established the dumpsite in the mid 1970s over a disused
quarry in the then sparsely populated outskirts of Nairobi. The area is now home to about
one million people. The intention was then to fill up the quarry but it has now developed
into one of the greatest humanitarian nightmares in Nairobi’s history particularly to the
residents of Korogocho, Kariobangi, Dandora and the neighbourhoods.
Business interests in dumpsite
All garbage from Nairobi’s industries, hotels, restaurant, airport, and residential areas is
dumped here. Private cartels control business at the dumpsite. The site is also a politically
sensitive area. Politicians are allegedly involved in the dump site affairs, owning some of
the lorries which dump garbage at the site. The dumpsite is believed to be a multimillion
industry and the local politicians are believed to be highly involved in maintaining the
status quo while taking different positions over the relocation of the dumpsite depending
on which position is convenient to them at a particular time in point.
The Dandora dumpsite has a number of co-operatives of youth and women which have
come up to sort and recycle some of this waste. These cartels hire them to sort out and
recycle wastes from industries and residential estates in Nairobi. Due to hard economic
times which has spawned a culture of survival, these people earn between Ksh 50-150
(USD 0.75-2.3) a day. They work under harsh conditions without any protective clothing.
Their employers do not cover them when they get sick. Getting sick here is as common as
a hobby and this is manifested in the high death rate of those working at the dumpsite.
Danger to public health
Dandora Dumpsite is home to all kinds of wastes. The United Nations Environmental
Programme (UNEP) report released in October 2007 found out that industrial wastes such
as fall-offs, used chemicals, raw materials, expired products and substandard goods are
offloaded at the dumpsite. The report titled ‘Environmental Pollution and Impacts On
Public Health, The impact of the Dandora Dumping Site in Nairobi, Kenya’i further
reveals that agricultural wastes such as fungicides and herbicides and hospital waste
including packaging materials, and containers, used syringes and other sharp, biological
waste and pharmaceuticals are all dumped at the site.
The pilot study has linked environmental pollution to public health. Soil samples
analyzed from locations adjacent to and within the dumpsite show high levels of heavy
metals emanating from the site, in particular lead, mercury, cadmium, copper and
chromium. At the same time, a medical evaluation of the children and adolescents living
and schooling near the dumpsite indicates a high incidence of diseases that are associated
with high exposure levels to these metal pollutants. For example, about 50% of children
examined who live and school near the dumpsite had respiratory ailments and blood lead
levels equal to or exceeding internationally accepted toxic levels (10ug/dl of blood) while
30% had size and staining abnormalities of their red blood cells, confirming high
exposure to heavy metal poisoning.
In 1998, the Japanese International Co-operation Agency (JICA) observed that the site
poses a serious air pollution problem, which affects the health of human beings and
scavenger animals. This is also evident in the huge amounts of smoke emanating from the
dumpsite risking the lives of those working and living around. This particularly affects
pupils from the neighbouring schools. A long delay in waste collection generates a foul
smelling liquid called leachate, which is considered a high water polluter.
Children exploited as labourers on and consumers of garbage
The dumpsite equally poses serious social and political threats. Being an open space the
dumpsite encourages and attracts many children to turn to street life since they scavenge
for items from the dump site which they sell. Schools such as St John Informal School in
Korogocho have reported cases of pupils escaping from school to work at the dump site.
Due to high poverty levels in Korogocho slums and its neighbouring settlements, some
parents encourage their children to go to ‘Mukuru’ as the dumpsite is popularly known to
fend for themselves and also support the family. While some critics will defend this habit,
it is a disastrous short term solution to a larger, complex and longer social and economic
problem.
Groups of people particularly street boys and those working at the dumpsite select items
and food stuffs dumped by tens of lorries and sell them back to slum residents at prices
lower than retail rates. The dumpsite area has more than twenty primary schools and a
number of secondary schools. A visit in each of the schools reveals that a lot of the waste
foodstuff such as sweets and chocolate from the dumpsite are sold at the gates of these
schools. Hygiene is not observed and sometimes the food is expired. This puts at risk the
lives of many children. One does not want to imagine what would happen if the
foodstuffs are contaminated! An entire generation could be in danger.
The health hazards associated with the Dandora dumpsite according the UNEP report
includes skin disorders, respiratory abnormalities, abdominal and intestinal problems
central nervous system and blood disorders. Diseases such as malaria, chicken pox, lung
cancer, septic wounds and genital abnormalities are more prevalent among the people
living around the dumpsite. The UNEP report further reveals.
Danger to environment
The Nairobi River also passes besides the dumpsite aggravating the situation. Some of
the waste ends up in the river, extending suffering to thousands of people. Street children
bathe in the river while residents also plant vegetables along the river bed. The UNEP
report reveals the existence of heavy metals such as lead, mercury and copper and some
organic pollutants such as aldrin, dieldrin and carbonates. People are exposed to these
chemicals through consumption of the vegetables and other risky behaviours. In the
absence of sewerage services, locals who use drums to drain the toilets pour the human
waste into the river, worsening the situation. With the presence of a forty meter deep
abandoned quarry separating the river from the dumpsite, the Dandora Dumping Site is a
mystery of a triple tragedy.
The site poses a serious health hazard to those working in and around the area. Since
burning is widely used to reduce the amount of waste, the site is a major source of
dioxins, furans, lead and cadmium, elements which have been scientifically proved to be
toxic to both humans and the environment.
Safe-haven for criminals
Furthermore, the site provides safe haven to gun trotting criminals who operate from the
site, using it as a hiding place and crime strategising point. Murder victims are rumoured
to have been buried at the site while dangerous cults and groups also operate from the
site. Pathways connecting the different estates of the area such as Dandora, Lucky
Summer and Korogocho pass through the dumpsite and these paths are no go zones in the
evening and even during the day, with criminals robbing passers-by and disappearing into
the dumpsite.
Dumpsite as source of ‘employment’ for the local
The site has caused a dependency culture where those who benefit from it believe that
their livelihoods entirely depend on the site and they lack any alternatives. Some critics
of the relocation allege that it would render those working there jobless. However, the
truth is that the proponents of the relocation have proposed that modern recycling
facilities be put in place to ensure that about 80 percent of the waste is recycled and to
employ more young people of the area. Further, it has asked the City Council of Nairobi
to decentralise waste management and involve all the youths currently working in
cooperatives around the city and at the dumping site in sorting and recycling at improved
terms of reference.
Action for positive change
What options then do we have for the Dandora Dumpsite? The situation of the dumpsite
cannot be allowed to worsen but it has to be fenced and closed. Various stakeholders
must come up with alternatives which will address both the environmental and economic
effects of the dumpsite. To be able to solve this problem, the stakeholders must be
motivated by the need to save the majority poor whose lives are at risk. This is a big
battle which can only be won if all of us come on board with clean hands. In bringing real
change and transformation in our area, individuals and groups within the community
must selflessly work towards harvesting the community and not individual fruits. We
must be ready to sacrifice our own individual aspirations for the sake of public good.
If well managed, the site and garbage collection in the city is capable of creating up to
five thousand jobs, according to an Italian waste management company, which was
temporarily contracted to manage waste at the dumpsite.ii Experts agree that over 80% of
the waste in Nairobi can be recycled, creating more jobs directly and indirectly to
thousands of residents.
Social justice as tool for strengthening inter-religious harmony
It is due to the situation of these exploited workers and the confirmed health risks that
religious communities in Kariobangi, Dandora and Korogocho, meeting under the banner
“Inter-religious committee Against Dandora Dumpsite” in conjunction with national
human rights institutions, set up a campaign in 2005 for the relocation of the dumpsite.
The pressure group cites serious legal, economic and human rights issues informing their
opposition for the continued existence of the dumpsite in Dandora.
The dumpsite experience is a lesson to educate our people to be more concerned about
their environment and act to improve it. Many are the times we are tempted to be
spectators as others struggle for our rights. We must be participants in the change
process. Advocacy and the struggle for a people’s liberation must be spearheaded by the
people themselves. The society equally needs to be endowed with adequate
environmental etiquette. We should ensure that our own little neighbourhoods are very
clean. Other stakeholders therefore need to come up with suggestions which can help us
surmount this danger of the dumpsite.
The Dandora inter-religious committee on its part has come with a number of proposals
as a way forward. The committee has asked that The Dandora dump site be closed
immediately and the area developed into a historical park where communities around can
relax and celebrate their struggles. According to environmentalists, the dumpsite area
cannot be developed into residential areas for about 15 years. The pressure group has
further asked the Ministry of Local Government to decentralise waste management to
eight different zones and put up waste sorting and recycling plants to ensure that over
80% of the waste is recycled. The future dumpsite would then be fenced and ensure that
only the wastes which cannot be recycled are dumped there and necessary public health
precautions are taken to minimise any human suffering.
Those who currently work at the dumpsite are experts in their field and the committee has
called on the government and any waste management companies which the government
may contract to ensure that they are absorbed and paid acceptable wages and salaries.
Youth Environment Groups will also be involved in collecting, sorting and recycling the
waste. The committee promises to stand for the rights of those working in the dumpsite to
ensure that none of them is declared redundant by any future development plans for the
dumpsite.
The committee has also asked the government to develop recreation and health facilities
around the dump site to benefit those who are working there and the neighbourhoods. To
enable cooperatives working in the dumpsite to improve on their work, the government,
any contracted companies and non-governmental organisations have also been asked to
set up microfinance organisations to extend loans to this organisation. The cooperatives
will be offered relevant training to enhance their management of the loans.
The Dandora Dumping Site problem is a real human rights issue. When about a million
people’s lives are put at risk, especially when the people in question are already poor and
impoverished, it is a great injustice and a social -economic apartheid to let the poor live
in the rubbish pit, literally, while the wealthier suburbs continue to fill the pit with their
garbage. All the government ministries concerned, the City Council of Nairobi and all
human beings who believe on the welfare of humanity must address this problem once
and for all.
For more information contact the writers:
Oluoch Japheth Ogola, an accountant and a freelance journalist working for the St. John
Catholic Church Korogocho in areas of accounts, media and Justice and Peace
Commission. Japheth lives in Korogocho slums where he has been brought up. He can
be contacted on +254 724 261 751 or email: japhol2002@yahoo.co.uk
Fr Daniel Moschetti, a Comboni missionary priest lives and ministers at St John Catholic
Church – Korogocho. Vice-Provincial of the Comboni Missionaries in Kenya.
Coordinator of Kutoka/Exodus: a Network of Catholic Parishes working in slums
(informal settlements) of Nairobi. He can be contacted on +254 733 702 972 or email
comboni@korogocho.org
For other articles and documentations enter: www.korogocho.org
i
See the full report on www.unep.org
However, the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the company was cancelled unexpectedly by
the Government of Kenya and City Council of Nairobi in 2004.
ii