NMS to launch monthly cleanup in city from February
Nairobi Metropolitan Services (NMS) is set to launch monthly clean-up exercises from next month as it steps up efforts to rid the city of garbage.
This as residents who flout waste disposal regulations have been warned that punitive measures will be taken against them.
The exercise, which will cover all the 17 sub-Counties in Nairobi County, will take place on the first Saturday of every month.
This comes at a time when the capital city is chocking under heaps of garbage posing a health hazard with a number of streets often dotted by illegally disposed piles of solid waste and pools of sewage.
Nairobi County, with a population of about 5 million people, generates a daily solid waste of 3,000 tons having increased from 2,500 tons every day.
However, NMS is only able to collect an average of 2,500 tons every day, up from the initial 1,000 tonnes per day that City Hall under governor Mike Sonko used to collect.
“NMS is set to commence a monthly clean up exercise on the first Saturday of every month with the commencement date to be shared soon,” said the Major General Mohammed Badi-led administration.
Last week, NMS flagged off eight trucks for collection of garbage that has been disposed of haphazardly in Eastleigh and Kamukunji Constituency.
A total of 15 tonnes of the solid waste left on road reserves and front yards of residential and commercial premises was collected.
In October, Maj-Gen Badi said city residents will be required to take part in monthly clean-ups of their neighbourhoods, where each and every Nairobian is supposed to dedicate one day a month to clean up their area and the body is just waiting for a go ahead from Parliament.
The NMS boss explained the move is part of a new “do it ourselves initiative” that his administration has adopted where residents, corporate and government agencies will help in keeping their environment clean.
The once-a-month clean-up exercise is not new to Nairobi residents as Sonko’s regime had a similar initiative that was launched in 2018.
Under the “Ng’arisha Jiji” programme, Sonko’s administration used to conduct monthly solid waste cleanup exercises every first Saturday of the month but this ceased when he was arrested in December 2019.
As part of plans to rid the city off garbage, NMS will establish waste recovery facilities in the 17 sub-Counties in the city and separation of waste at the household level by Nairobi residents.