Dajopen Waste Management Project

I will use the funds to buy an industrial plot for erecting and constructing a recycling plant.  Also the said funds, I will buy a tractor for transporting the biodegradable from the source to the recycling plant  and a  modern granular for transforming the organic fertilizers from dust form to granules, so that it reaches the required international standard. However with bulk production and effective promotional activities through farmers’ events, I expect to have a better market share in future. The funds will be used to introduce the bottling of bio-gas from the slaughter house to cater for the clean cooking energy required by the informal settlers. The bio-gas will decrease the dependant of wood fuels and end conflict between the people and the forest rangers, due to community illegal felling of the trees for firewood. I will also incorporate a better strategy by capacity building the members and staffs on proper marketing strategies and maximization of profits margins on the recycled products.

The vision of the project is to keep the environment clean by recycling urban market biodegradable waste into organic fertilizer which improves the soil fertility for sustainable crops production. Commercial objective is the our intervention of introducing affordable, safe and efficacious natural product for crop production and link up with other stakeholders to add value to natural products leading to the creation of industry with accrued benefits to the National economy, job creation and improving the living status of the informal settlers, which is in line with vision 2030 and professional guidance from Kenya Industrial Research Development Institute on commercialization. Dajopen waste management pricing strategy is calculated through production costs where members meet to put a minimum profit to attract customers of about 12.5% that meets most of the planned and projected goals of the business taking into account inflationary trends in Kenya. The future goals is to have a recycling plant, which will be able to recycles wastes (apart from medical waste) for commercial purposes. My distribution strategies are to deal directly with Agricultural farm input distributors. They must have competence in explaining the recycled products usage and knowledge on appropriate agronomic practices to farmers.

The critical issues that we address include; poverty and unemployment in the slums of Tuwan, in Kitale Kenya. The piling up of uncollected garbage that remains an eye-sore in the settlement, unhealthy and unfit-for-human habitation environment in which residents of Tuwan live and food security for the poor families. Therefore we engage in intensive awareness creation of the dangers posed by the accumulation of garbage to the health of the residents especially the children who play with garbage not understanding the dangers. Through training, members identify innovations that we use to take advantage of the high population’s rate of waste generation to create viable enterprises.  On the other hand more than 220,000 members in Kitale town have been affected by poor waste disposal, while 80% of the small scale farmers, who are mostly Women have benefited from using affordable organic fertilizer. Sixteen registered informal settlement organization in the Society have been trained on recycling biodegradable and plastic wastes and turning them into organic fertilizer and fencing posts respectively, thus empowering them economically. This recycling intervention has prevented solid waste dumping into waterways; drainage systems, streams and rivers that tend to alter aquatic habitats and harm native plants and animals.

The work is innovative because it addresses the most trodden in the society.  The fertilizer composition shows a good balance of essential nutrients necessary for plant health. The process goes beyond ordinary composting in that, it involves addition of ingredients made out of ashes, charcoal dust, herbs ranging from tithonia, amaranthus, comfrey and stinging nettles.  Other ingredients include calcium extracted from eggshells, ammonia from molasses, nitrogen, phosphate, and zinc from a variety of natural sources, all by our special use of garbage enzymes (GE). The enzymes are extracted as a fermentation process of organic wastes in specially controlled conditions that takes between three to six months. The end product we use as an additive and a catalyst to rapid decomposition for the ingredients in our compost fertilizer. At different dilutions, we use it as folia fertilizer, insecticide, pesticide and plant growth hormone (rapid bud and root development) because of acetic acid content. By using the biodegradable and inert waste, also adds us a mileage of good and environmental sound innovation.

Dajopen has been able to collect heaps of garbage which were dumped around houses, offices and market places and recycled by making useful products. By this noble intervention of collecting the garbage, the breeding zones for mosquitoes, flies and rodents which pose threat to human health by causing communicable disease like cholera, typhoid and rabies has been eradicated. Through this project the members including benefit from enhanced income generating opportunities and from a cleaner habitat and are empowered to transform their own living conditions. The down approach has an integrated impact for the social economic and environmental conditions of the affiliated groups trained. Individual farmers have been trained during  agricultural fairs, shows, field days and open learning weeks and further 18,000 persons from 46 Farmer Groups organization have been trained through agricultural productivity programmes. The steps which we are adhering to is engaging the policy makers Government officials, students, farmers, youth, women and NGOs institutions with whom to collaborate with. Most of groups we have collaborated with have developed and enhanced awareness of community-led development processes as well as of environmental, social economic and organic farming issues.