Evaluation of Solid Waste Management Practices in Kakamega Municipality, Kakamega County

Abstract

Solid waste management is a challenge, particularly in the developing countries. This is aggravated by increased urbanization, population growth and economic development which have increased the rates of solid waste generation in urban areas. The solution to effective solid waste management is the adoption of the 3 R’s (reduce, re-use and recycle) which is the bedrock for integrated solid waste management (ISWM). The main aim of this study is to determine the extent of adoption of ISWM practices in Kakamega Municipality of Kakamega County. The study adopted a descriptive research design. Random sampling was used to select a hundred different enterprises within Kakamega Municipality. The research instruments used were questionnaires and Key Informant Interviews (KII). The validity and reliability of the questionnaires were tested using Pilot study conducted on different sets of respondents in the area. The quantitative data was analysed using SPSS 26, while thematic analysis was used to analyse the qualitative data. 85.7% of all the enterprises sampled were commercial with a smaller proportion being educational (7.2%) and health (7.1%). Eighty nine percent of the enterprises had a small number of workers (1-50), with a large proportion (46%) of these enterprises having an age of 5-10 years and an average waste generation rate of 0-10 kg day-1 . Most of the enterprises had information on recycling, but this did not influence their choice regarding recycling of waste. Although the study revealed useful information regarding behavioural aspects of small enterprises towards waste disposal, preliminary findings show that inertia could be a key factor hindering sustainable solid waste disposal practices.