Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja has warned private waste service providers that the county will deregister any operator caught engaging in illegal garbage dumping.
Speaking in a live interview on Radio Citizen on September 17, 2025, Sakaja said some licensed collectors, despite being paid for proper waste disposal, hire youths to dump garbage at night in unauthorized areas, undermining the county’s cleanup efforts.
"When you go to some areas, such as Kawangware, we, as the county government, clean up these places, but after a while, these places get littered again. Some private service providers are being paid to collect waste, and then they are illegally dumping waste at night. We are going to deregister them,” he warned.
He singled out Kawangware as one of the hotspots where illegal dumping continues to be a challenge.
“This illegal dumping undermines the county’s efforts to keep the city clean and healthy,” Sakaja added, noting that it threatens public health and environmental sustainability.
To tackle the problem, he outlined a broader strategy that combines infrastructural expansion with youth employment opportunities to support street cleaning.
“The last time the Nairobi County Government hired people to clean the streets was in 1987, and you find that those who were hired are already old and want to retire. We also had a problem with equipment because you must have lorries and buckles and other facilities, and we have a plan to rectify this,” the governor explained.
He cited delays in the disbursement of county funds by the national government as a key obstacle to implementing efficient waste management solutions.
To modernize sanitation services, the county plans to launch the Green Nairobi Company, a long-term initiative designed to convert waste into energy and professionalize city cleaning.
“The soon-to-be-operational Green Nairobi Company Limited is designed to revolutionize waste management, provide long-term solutions for harnessing waste-to-energy, and enhance environmental cleanliness across the capital,” Sakaja said.
The Green Nairobi Company will be fully owned by the Nairobi County Government and operate independently, similar to the Nairobi Water Company.
A professional board, led by a Chief Executive Officer with full financial autonomy, will oversee operations.
The company will also absorb members of the existing “Green Army,” providing permanent and pensionable jobs to strengthen the city’s sanitation workforce.
Sakaja pointed to cities such as Johannesburg, Lagos, Addis Ababa, and Cape Town as examples of successful waste-to-energy programs.
He said Nairobi’s adoption of this model will lead to cleaner streets, improved waste management, and a more sustainable urban environment for residents.
