From a Waste Cemetery to a Waste Hospital: Recreating Kisumu City’s Waste Management System

Abstract

With the new constitutional dispensation in Kenya, counties, cities and towns are creating and recreating their solid waste management systems. Taking Kisumu as a case, this study assesses the existing solid waste management system and how best to recreate it while giving special emphasis to its system configuration, governance framework and waste economy. Methods: Data was collected through group discussions, in depth interviews, document reviews, observations, and a city wide survey of solid waste generation and management. Results were analysed through content and critical analyses and descriptive statistics. Results and Conclusion: The existing configuration does not ensure service delivery to all while the governance framework is not up to the task at hand. Furthermore, the City’s waste economy fails to capture a number of waste resources but loses them to Kachok dumpsite as wastes.