For thousands of Nairobi households, the fight against garbage has opened a new path to earning a living, with Governor Johnson Sakaja saying the county has employed 4,500 people to clean the city under its Green Army programme.
The initiative has placed the workers on permanent and pensionable terms, making it one of the biggest recruitment drives for city cleaners in decades while giving the county a larger workforce to deal with waste, blocked drains and illegal dumping.
Sakaja said the programme was created to deal with Nairobi’s environmental problems while at the same time creating jobs for residents.
Speaking on his digital baraza podcast, Nairobi, Let’s Talk, the Governor said the scale of the recruitment was unlike anything seen in the county for years.
“Right now, since the 1980s, this is the first time we have employed such a huge number of workers 4,500 people for permanent and pensionable positions to be part of the people cleaning the city,” Sakaja said.
According to the Governor, the employment created by the programme has a wider effect because the income earned by each worker supports a household.
“As they clean drains, clean our city and estates, we have also given 4,500 households an opportunity to make a living. This is just the beginning,” he said.
The Green Army has been deployed to different parts of Nairobi as the county increases its efforts to keep the capital clean and reduce the threat posed by poor drainage and uncontrolled dumping.
Its duties include removing waste from streets, estates, markets, waterways and illegal dumping grounds, as well as opening up drainage systems.
The campaign has gained pace ahead of the expected October El Niño rains, with the county seeking to remove waste that could block water channels and increase the risk of flooding.
Since April, more than 40 major waste collection points and illegal dumping sites have been cleared across Nairobi.
Embakasi South has recorded some of the largest volumes removed during the operation, with more than 4,500 loads of waste cleared since the exercise began.
Of these, 1,538 loads were removed from Kware Bridge, while 2,970 loads were cleared from English Press in Mukuru Kwa Reuben.
The operation has also covered areas along the Nairobi River. At Motherland in Eastleigh South, 216 loads of waste have been removed, while another 20 loads were cleared from Kinyago Slums in California Ward.
Other locations targeted by the clean-up teams include Gumba Bridge in Babadogo, Kingston in Utalii, Area 3 Sokoni in Mathare North and Korogocho Market.
The county has also carried out drainage clearance, desilting, litter collection and vegetation control in Dandora, Ruai, Langata, Mathare, Kibra and Dagoretti North.
Waste challenge grows
The clean-up comes as Nairobi deals with a much larger volume of garbage than it collected in the past.
The county government says the city is now collecting about 3,000 tonnes of waste each day, compared with roughly 1,000 tonnes previously.
Sakaja said the size of Nairobi’s population and the amount of waste produced each day require a system that can keep up with the city’s needs.
“Nairobi County is a service county and we collect three tonnes of garbage daily,” Sakaja said, referring to the scale of the city’s waste burden.
The Governor said the county’s plans will not end with collecting waste from neighbourhoods and taking it away for disposal.
“We have plans for how we will repurpose the garbage,” he said.
The county has announced plans to establish material recovery and waste transfer facilities as part of its broader efforts to change how solid waste is handled.
The proposed system would create room for waste collected from different parts of the city to be sorted, recovered and reused rather than simply moved to disposal sites.
Green Army takes on flooding threat
County Executive Committee Member for Green Nairobi Maureen Njeri said the work being done by the Green Army was also aimed at preparing Nairobi for heavy rains.
She said the daily work of the teams was helping clear possible obstacles from drainage systems while improving the cleanliness of roads and neighbourhoods.
“As we prepare Nairobi for the El Nino rains, the Green Army is on the ground every day clearing drains, removing waste and keeping our roads and neighbourhoods clean,” Njeri said.
“This is about prevention ensuring water has a clear path to flow and reducing the risk of flooding.”
The county, however, says government efforts alone will not be enough to keep Nairobi clean.
Njeri called on residents, communities and businesses to take greater responsibility for the waste they produce and avoid dumping it in unauthorised areas.
“We cannot achieve a clean and flood-resilient Nairobi through the efforts of the County Government alone,” Njeri said, urging residents, communities and businesses to take responsibility for their waste and stop illegal dumping.
The county is now combining the Green Army recruitment with increased garbage collection, drainage works and public mobilisation as it prepares for the October rains.
For the workers, the programme provides regular employment. For the county, it offers a larger team to deal with Nairobi’s growing waste problem.
Sakaja said the initiative was still at an early stage, with the county looking beyond street cleaning towards a system where waste can be recovered and reused.
The long-term goal is therefore to make Nairobi cleaner while ensuring the people doing the work have a steady income and the garbage removed from the city can eventually become an economic resource rather than remain a public problem.