Awareness Levels and Strategies of E-Waste Management in Dandora Nairobi City County, Kenya
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Date
2025-05
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Publisher
Kenyatta University
Abstract
Globally, the rapidly increasing use of Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) has also increased the demand for electronic equipment such as computers and mobile phones. This increase in consumption has resulted in huge amounts of e-waste being generated from scrapped electronics. E-waste contains chemical substances that have adverse effects on human health and the environment. Consequently, handling of e-waste needs to be organized in ways that minimize these adverse effects. The study was carried out in Nairobi specifically Dandora dumpsite which has the biggest population with majority using electronics for their domestic purposes. The study identified the sources, types and effects of e-waste, assessed awareness levels and strategies of e-waste management, examined the impacts of awareness campaigns to residents on disposal of e-waste, evaluated the effectiveness of rethink, refuse, reduce, reuse, repair, regift, recycle (7R strategy) in disposal of e-waste and also investigated the use of Polluter Pay Principle on e-waste management actions in Dandora area Nairobi County. A descriptive research design was used to explain relationships between dependent and independent variables. The target population was 350,000 living in formal settlements. Simple random sampling was used to obtain 328 respondents from the study area, Clusters were made to capture households with the highest variation in socio-economic status while key informants were purposely chosen for the study. Quantitative and qualitative data was involved in establishing the current management strategies of e-waste. Quantitative methods used questionnaires to obtain numerical data while qualitative methods involved the use of key informants and observation to understand key issues, explore possibilities and understand processes in e-waste management. Quantitative data was analyzed using data analysis methods. Descriptive statistical techniques like mean, mode and median were used to summarize the data while inferential statistical. Qualitative data was coded then arranged in themes, which were presented across datasets to determine their similarity. Results on sources of E-waste indicated ICT and telecommunications equipment emerged as the leading source of e-waste in the study area closely followed by toys, leisure/sports items, and large household appliances. Results on the level of awareness indicated that majority 85% had knowledge of electronic waste, while 15% indicated that they had no idea of electronic waste while majority 85.8% understood that some of the electronic waste has hazardous chemical substances in them while 14.3% said they were not aware. Results on electronic separation show that 63% (N= 172) of the respondents indicated they were aware of separation of electronic waste, while 37% (N=102) said they were not aware while 56 % said they were aware of safe methods of handling electronic waste. There was a strong consensus of the respondents on 7Rs effectiveness with 83. 6% agreeing that the application of recycling can offer a quick and reliable approach to e-waste management. Majority 72.3 % of respondents indicated they were aware of the polluter pay principle. This can be interpreted to mean that the respondents were aware that absolute liability for harm to the environment does not only apply to them but extends to other polluters and not only to compensate the victims of pollution but also the cost of restoring the environmental degradation. The study recommends that the Nairobi County government should install dust bins near residential areas and step-up e-waste awareness campaigns and provide training to the communities regarding human health and the environmental impacts of solid waste this will encourage the effective use of the 7Rs strategy in e-waste management concept. The strategy will focus on minimizing environmental pollution and sustainability work and help the county and the country to shift towards circular economy of zero waste and convert some of the waste into energy production.
Description
A Research Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Award of the Degree of Master of Environmental Studies and Community Development in the School of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences of Kenyatta University, May 2025.
Supervisor
1. Joseph K Muriithi
2. Samuel Ochola