Nairobi, 8 November 2019 – UN-Habitat through the Urban Pathways project and in collaboration with other partners recently participated in a ‘plogging’ event to help beat plastic pollution.
The other partners teaming up with UN-Habitat included UN Environment, Swedish Institute Alumni Network Kenya, Swedish Embassy, Plogging Kenya, Nairobi City County and other waste management stakeholders.
Plogging is an activity made of walking/ jogging while picking up litter. “It’s amazing seeing different stakeholders coming together for one course,” Damaris Mungai from the UN-Environment appreciated the participation of all the different entities in the event.
Participants gather for a debrief before the exercise
UN-Habitat
The activity was conducted along the Moi Avenue stretch and was flagged off by
Ibrahim Otieno, Deputy Director of Environment, Nairobi City County Government. It started from the August Memorial Park to the Jeevanjee Gardens in Nairobi’ Central Business District. Participants collected all manner of waste matter using modified weaved waste collection baskets. The main aim was to create awareness around how much plastic we are in contact with every day and explore ways to avoid it. At the end of the collection process, through the help of UN-Habitat’s waste management experts, Association of Kenyan Recyclers and an experienced recyler at Dandora Dumpsite, the public was educated on waste categories and went through a waste separation exercise.
[UN-Habitat]
Through the development of a quick cities solid waste assessment tool, UN-Habitat measures the waste data in cities. “In Nairobi 3000 tons of waste are generated per day and 1300 tons are recyclables. However, not everything is recycled” says Nao Takeuchi, UN-Habitat waste management expert. She further illustrated how recycling systems function in Nairobi and how important the sector is for informal waste pickers at Dandora Dumpsite. The event concluded with a film screening for the public on the life stories of waste pickers working at the Dandora Dumpsite – creating knowledge and awareness on ways to transform waste to wealth and also to help beat plastic pollution.
