By Shani Fakii, DevReporter, Mombasa County
[
Challenges of solid waste in Mombasa County
Solid waste in Mombasa has become a major challenge, posing grave danger to the lives of many especially during rainy seasons when diseases like malaria, typhoid and cholera become rampant.
For 50 years, the waste ultimately ended up in kibarani landfill located within
the Makupa causeway, the causeway that links the mainland to Mombasa island.
Youth and residents now engage in selling solid waste to Baus Taka, which buys waste from individuals once they have notified them of a dumpsite. This is mostly done through their mobile application. The mobile app also allows one to get points that can be redeemed for health services. https://twitter.com/BausTaka/status/1465711613500170240
in this way Baus Yaka engages the community in curbing environmental pollution. https://datatopics.worldbank.org/what-a-waste/
Creating job opportunities in Mombasa
“Baus Taka is a youth and women led social enterprise. “We deal with waste management with the aim of promoting marine conservation and community health while empowering youth and women from vulnerable communities in Mombasa,” said Dr. Hatimy.
Since Mombasa Island is a place surrounded by the Indian Ocean, Baus Taka Enterprise aims to promote marine conservation by ensuring that there is minimal marine pollution. They do this by firstly raising awareness on responsible waste management and practices.
Youth motivated to keep the environment clean
Cindy Lwane, staff at Baus Taka Enterprise, said they mostly collect waste within the immediate communities in Mombasa County. She is passionate about keeping the environment clean and also has a focus on waste management.
“The areas that we collect garbage from are mostly within our communities. Let’s say in places where people are and garbage is available, may be dumped,” reiterated Cindy.
“Through the Baus Taka mobile app, people can report a dumpsite, and through such reports, the organization can identify such sites and then go out to collect the garbage,” added Cindy.
Talking of how Miss Baus has empowered her personally, she spoke of an outreach they did at Kibokoni where she learnt of waste segregation and plastic waste recycling.
“On my personal experience, there is a day we went to Kibokoni, Old Town where there is a centre for Baus Taka. We were shown how segregated plastic bottles are taken and shredded in a machine to produce small plastic particles, which can be used for recycling. Through that, I was able to see exactly what Baus Taka does,” explained Cindy.
She believes that as a team, they can do more through advertising and talking to youth at various events. This shall ostensibly go a long way in ensuring all societal groups are empowered on proper waste management and disposal and in the process, help alleviate climate adversities.
This will in addition, help in creating employment for youth and women in Mombasa County. Baus Taka has also created an income generating activity through their mobile app where citizens can call for garbage collection, which the organisation then goes on to buy, hence promoting the local hoi polloi whilst also conserving the environment.
“As for the youth, we engage the men from the informal sector with the aim of giving them employment opportunities in waste management. Again, we engage women and girls from the informal sector by on-boarding them to Baus Taka activities such as sorting plastic waste, and in this way, we also provide employment opportunities to them as well,” said Dr. Hatimy.
The organization has adopted smart solutions to alleviate the extent of water pollution while reducing the rates of diseases such as Chikungunya, dengue, malaria and yellow fever. Their mobile application is a unique innovative solution that helps in tracking and identifying solid waste.
Baus Taka Mobile App
“Baus Taka Mobile App is a first of its kind in Kenya. The solution is innovative in that one can book a waste management service on the go. Just like Uber, you can get information about the authorities in Mombasa County. The problem with illegal dumping is that anyone can come to your place to collect your waste. When Mombasa county official try to find out the problem, citizens don’t seem to know who is authorized and who is not,” said Dr. Hatimy coherently.
Tijara Arnold Kombe who has completed her diploma in clinical medicine and awaiting internship, has also learnt a lot by working at Baus Taka Enterprise. She liaised with her mother, a primary school teacher at Serani Primary School to empower school kids on waste management and the need to keep the environment clean. She said that hospitals practice waste segregation, and that is the same thing we should do in our environment.
“We are currently trying to sensitize people to practice waste segregation. Lately I urged my mother – a teacher to encourage her students to practice waste segregation. They are grade 2 kids and we take them around the compound to collect plastics, put them aside and then used the app. Baus Taka came and collected the plastics,” said Tijara.
Equally, Terry Aketch Okwanyo, besides being a quality analyst at Bamburi Cement, works at Baus Taka Enterprise. She balances between the two jobs by availing herself at Baus Taka during her off days. At the latter organization, she has immensely benefited from its training programmes.
“I benefited from the Baus Taka Eco – Champion Programem (B.E.P), where I learnt the different ways of segregating waste. They also brought trainers from (W.F.P) who taught us about secular economy. We learnt about the importance of understanding that waste in the right place is a good resource, which can generate wealth. We learnt about the app and how one can earn from selling plastic waste.” Said Terry in between smiles.
