Kenya: What Happens After Dandora? Kenya's Green Transition Faces Its Hardest Test

What the report says

AllAfrica, republishing an African Arguments analysis by sociologist Fabrizio Floris, reports that Kenya’s plan to close Nairobi’s Dandora dumpsite is testing how far the country’s green transition can protect the informal workers who have long sustained the city’s recycling economy. The site, officially declared full in 2001, still receives more than 2,000 tonnes of waste daily, while waste pickers recover plastic, metal, paper, glass and electronic waste from one of Africa’s largest and oldest dumpsites.

The report says national and county authorities have revived plans to replace Dandora with a new waste management facility in Ruai. While the environmental case for closure is described as strong because of pollution, health risks and urban regeneration concerns, the analysis argues that the social consequences are less settled. Thousands of waste pickers, including many women, depend on sorting and selling recyclable materials, often earning about 300 to 500 Kenyan shillings a day.

African Arguments notes that Dandora’s workers face hazardous conditions, including exposure to burning cables, electronic waste and contaminated air, soil and water affecting nearby areas such as Korogocho. The analysis also cites a February Environment and Land Court ruling that recognised more than 1,000 waste pickers had been exposed to dangerous working conditions and prolonged pollution, awarding compensation to those affected.

The piece frames the central challenge as redesigning Nairobi’s waste system rather than simply moving disposal elsewhere. Around Dandora, informal networks of pickers, traders, transporters and recycling industries have developed over decades. The analysis argues that Kenya’s transition will be judged not only by cleaner sites, but by whether these workers are recognised and included in the new system.