NAIROBIANS AND THE 3 CHAMBER BINS

The Nairobi City Council environmental department has put in place 3 chamber bins that enable segregation of waste at source. The bin has been clearly labelled: plastic litter, biodegradable litter and other litter (sand, glass, etc.). This is a great initiative but how many people really read the labels? How many people put their waste corresponding to the labels of the bins? Well, I took time to find out.

I went around in town and peeked into each of the 3 chamber bins located in the CBD. In addition to that, I also had the opportunity to watch people use the bins. The results: amazingly shocking. (Did I mention that I looked liked I had lost my mind?) Anyway, in all of the bins, the public had not followed the well written instructions. They also did not take time to put the waste into the corresponding bin. The waste was mixed up as they just used the bin. For a people who have over 300,000 graduates per year, this was quite disheartening. It is even harder to comprehend because in addition to the instructions are colours. Blue, green and brown. If we are the most educated county in the country, how would people in Wajir or Mandera use the bins? Are you among the people who do not use the bins appropriately?

The 3 chamber bin

I am inclined to say that we are educated but not learned. We study to pass exams and we only do what benefits us. Can you see that piece of paper next to the bin? Someone was too in a hurry to place it inside the bin. That person may be the very same one saying the government is at fault for the filthy state of Nairobi. Has the government not built for us the 3 chamber bins? Has it not given us free access to basic education so that we can be able to read the instructions? Has God not given us the responsibility to take care of our surroundings? What will it cost us to put our PET bottles into the blue bin for plastics?

What we don’t know is that when all the trash has been taken by the NCC, we spend millions of our hard earned money separating it. One may argue that this is creating employment. I say that this is revenue spent unnecessarily. How about we use that money to generate jobs in sustainability development? Waste that cannot be separated because it is too mixed up is sent to the ever growing Dandora dumpsite. And it is only a matter of time before what happened in January, 2006 in the Philippines happens in Kenya (google what happened). We will then be spending on funerals and in machinery to recover the buried people.

It is one thing to have nothing being done about anything and a different thing when something has been done and we do nothing about it. Do not be the reason why Nairobi is full of litter. In other news, Mazingira Safi Initiative celebrates children alongside Nigeria in today's World Children’s Day. Bring back our girls.

For the love of children

Article written by Purity Wanjohi