Dajopen Waste Management

The critical problems that the project is addressing include; poverty and unemployment among youths in the informal settlements in Kitale town Kenya, continuously piling and uncollected garbage that remains an eye-sore in the settlement, unhealthy and unfit-for-human habitation environment in which residents of the informal settlements live. The solution to these problems are through collection of waste materials for production of recycled items and the training of other self-help groups and actors regarding alternative livelihood opportunities, waste management, organic farming and conserving the ecosystem through planting trees in the riparian areas. The project focuses on the environmental, social and economic challenges in Kenya. The activities includes: composting of organic fertilizer from the biodegradable waste, making briquettes and simple maize Sheller’s from scrap metals. This solution has improved the members of the community by creating employment and increased farm yields to many small holder farmers. 

The specific problems the solution is preventing poor solid waste dumping which finds its way into waterways, drainage systems, streams and rivers that tend to danger aquatic habitats and harm native plants, animals and human being. Increased solid waste production in the informal settlement poses danger to the health of approximately 215,000 residents of kitale town. Factors contributing to the problem include open dumping sites and cropping up of  non-gazetted dumping site within the Municipality. Also the local farmers who  often keep adding large quantities of inorganic , chemical fertilizers in order to maintain target yields without caring to revitalize the soils for sustainable use. This has resulted in accumulation  of excessive  amount of nitrates and phosphate in the aquatic ecosystem , presence  of pesticide  residues in  various food stuffs, associated  with  mammalian toxicity  and a rise in resistance  of pest to chemical pesticides. By going organic, the compost product can be used to amendment the soil by replenishing it with organic matter which will improve the overall soil conditions; developing and maintaining structure, improving physical properties, decreasing susceptibility to erosion and encouraging microbial activity.

The solution entails the use of bio-degradable municipal solid waste (yard waste, roadside, market, restaurants, institutional, carpentry, sawmill etc.) to organic fertilizer for enterprise development, food security, energy use, and climate change mitigation. The solution employs aerobic composting of bio-degradable waste and thereby reducing greenhouse gas emissions and other air pollutants that would have emanated from mixed solid waste heaps and dumps as a result of anaerobic decomposition. The anaerobic process is a significant source of methane gas in the atmosphere. In addition, by our action, we reduce the traditional practice to burn garbage in residential areas and in landfills, which is normally used to reduce volume of garbage. Burning creates thick smoke that contains carbon monoxide, soot and nitrogen oxide, all of which is hazardous to human health and degrades urban air quality and can be avoided. The final product from the recycling of biodegradable waste is the organic fertilizer which we packages and sell to small-scale farmers and horticulturists to replenish their soil which has been depleted by the over us of inorganic agrochemicals. 

The solution directly benefits 340 peoples through dividends from the profits accrued in the sale of organic fertilizer.  The solution has trained more than 165,000 people on waste management and organic farming, and eight community groups on producing a range of recycled products. The project’s activities include: composting of organic biodegradable waste, making briquettes from dry tree leaves and pulp papers, making simple maize shellers from scrap metals, to assist the small scale farmers and especially women who handle most of the domestic chores in the family. They support members in innovating to take advantage of the high rate of waste generation to create viable enterprises. The 2600 jobs created by this initiative, is way forward, because the youths have abandoned the use of drugs and they are saving their proceeds for their own development, now and the future. Women are able to cater for their families daily needs and also taking the children to school in a bigger number than before, therefore Gender inequality has been addressed. The good hygiene of the entire community is felt by the health of the people and the decrease of almost to nil the perennial outbreaks of malaria and cholera, due to the piles of waste, which was the breeding zone of the flies and mosquitoes. The farmers are very happy because their soil, has been rejuvenated, after using organic fertilizer, and they are getting bumper crop harvest and surplus for sale. The proceeds which they get, they use to take the children to school. Women were trained in hygienic handling of the waste during collection, processing and turning them into valuable products such as baskets, caps, floor table mats, etc. Indeed, this has enabled them to sustain their livelihood after selling.

Most of the members are residents of Kitale town and its suburbs. They practice agribusiness-based horticultural products for the town dweller courtesy of own value added compost.

Many farmers who use organic fertilizer during planting and top dressing. The organic dresser readily absorbs into the soil conditioning it and improving nutrient uptake by crops without the dangers of excessive nutrition of the water systems since it clamps into the soils structure and is retained for long. Most farmers are the consumers of bio-intensive organic insect repellant made from a concoction of mexican marigold and other plants. 

The project has the potential for growth, even becoming or opening up a large recycling industry. The ever increasing demand of cost effective and non-chemical farm inputs has increased the demand of organic fertilizer. Currently, the solution is producing garbage enzymes which enhance the decomposing and curing the organic fertilizer. By expanding it will cover more urban town, while benefiting most people. This initiative eradicates more waste from our towns by making products which will assist in alleviating poverty the rural and less privileged urbanities. The shorter goal is to educate more communities on the usefulness of using urban waste into worthwhile recycled products that can be economically viable project engagements especially in the informal settlement. The project can be replicated in other areas. Socially the project contributes to an improvement in the health conditions of community members. 

Our solution provides a clear improvement to soil fertility thus increase in agricultural productivity and ecosystem resilience. The innovation employs aerobic composting of bio-degradable waste and thereby reducing greenhouse gas emissions and other air pollutants that would have emanated from mixed solid waste heaps and dumps as a result of anaerobic decomposition. The anaerobic process is a significant source of methane gas in the atmosphere. On the other hand this solution helps in reduced burning of garbage in residential areas and in landfills; this is normally used to reduce volume of garbage but on the other hand pollutes the environment.  Burning creates thick smoke that contains carbon monoxide, soot and nitrogen oxide, all of which is hazardous to human health and degrades urban air quality and can be avoided. This solution also contributes to climate change mitigation through provision of rich humus in the soil contributing to water retention. Our actions have been rippling out to impact the entire globe through ecosystem resilient. Some of these actions are so subtle that we don’t even see them: For instant   consider the farmable soil. Every time we in sub-Saharan Africa eat one pound of food that has been grown mechanically using commercial agricultural techniques, six pound of farmland soil are lost to wind and water erosion therefore our innovative solution has been able to address the above problem. The solution will provide alternative market for the farmers. 

The solution is currently serving 220,000 in Kitale Town, Kenya. The solution will serve 270,000 people and projecting to serve 420,000 people in the next five years. Once a group is trained it becomes a Dajopen affiliated members and in some cases set up similar enterprises thus increasing the number of waste management groups in the republic. Training activities include working with students, government bodies and NGO’S and training is provided free of charge during agricultural fairs, field days and open learning weeks. The training targets the most vulnerable groups i.e. youth and women. Because of our success in reaching small scale farmers we were awarded trophy by agro-chemical association of Kenya for the environmental sanity development and success in implementation and reliability of innovation to others. Through the Trans Nzoia District Agriculture Officer, Dajopen has reached out to many farmers through its products in the last two years during the agriculture field days. Thousands more farmers have had the opportunity to visit our exhibition stands in several trade fares in the towns of; Kitale, Eldoret, Nakuru and in the cities of; Nairobi, Mombasa and Kisumu in Kenya. 

The solution’s specific measurable indicators on each goal include: Goal 1-No poverty is measured the number of people from the informal settlement and small scale farmers trained and employed through this ecosystem resilient action. Goal 2-Zero hunger is measured through the increment in production per unit area of various crops after using the organic fertilizer. This is also measured by the number people who access the organically grown food. Goal 3-Good health and wellbeing is measured through the number of people accessing conducive environment free from the outbreak of various environmentally triggered diseases such as malaria, Cholera and Typhoid. Goal 5-Gender equality is measured through the number of women and young girls trained and work in the solution and also the number of children taken to schools with the proceeds from this solution. Goal 9-Industry, Innovation and infrastructure this is gauged through the number of mushrooming cottage industries from the lessons learnt from the solution. Goal 11-Sustainable cities and community is measured through the cleanliness in the working places within the Urban Centers. Goal 17-Partnership for the goals is gauged through collaboration with other actors in the field of Agriculture, Research, Environment and Community Development. Therefore through the above Sustainable Development goals we have been able to reach most informal settlers, the urbanites, while collaborating with other stakeholders. 

This is a community Green Enterprise which has 34 full-time staff and 9 Part time staff. Contractors are only engaged on the need basis. 

The management team consists of; Managing Director, Financial manager, Production manager and other Members.  We will create areas of collaboration with other stakeholders such as; Government Institution and Private sector. The members are to oversee and run the group. The Director is the chief executive officer and oversees all organizational day to day functions and operations and reports to the board of directors. The Financial manager is to account for money either cash out or cash in and keep the record. He’s also answerable to members on how the finance has been used, the profit and the dividends each member will get during the end of year. The Production manager is in charge of all production. All questions pertaining to products effectiveness is his responsibility. Our collaborators will assist us in technical issues, marketing, research and analysis. We will work hand in hand with our collaborators who are our mentors. 

The current management structure consists of the chairman, treasurer, secretary and the members. This is due to the fact that the projects stands as a community based. Also, there is a head of every production unit such as sales, production, collection, sorting, packaging and distribution.

Generally our members come from diverse gender backgrounds. All ages (above 18), ethnic, sex are inclusive. Ten of our members are technically trained and experienced in waste recycling, handling and disposal. Three members have eight years experience in recycling waste and have been awarded for their noble job. Thirty members are experienced and trained as Trainer of Trainers.