Locals, including children, face high levels of pollution as they scavenge for valuable waste at Dandora landfill in Nairobi, Kenya.

The landfill takes up over 30 acres and is home to scavengers that sift through the waste in the hope of finding food or scrap metal to recycle.

In 2001, Dandora landfill was officially declared full but it still continues to operate with 2,000 tons of rubbish finding its way there every day. Men, women and children continue to expose themselves to harmful waste.

Nairobi City Council has claimed they will relocate the dump but it has proved to be a slow process.

This footage was filmed on March 9.

Dandora dump is a sprawling dumpsite, over 30 acres, in the heart of the Nairobi slums of Korogocho, Baba Ndogo, Mathare and Dandora. It opened in 1975 with World Bank funds and was deemed full by 2001. Yet it continues to operate, and people at the very bottom rungs of the socioeconomic ladder come here as their last hope to make a living from scavenging the waste, but in the same time exposing themselves to tremendous pollution


People making a living from scavenging waste, how many people do so?

Local community and thousands of people rely on their daily income on the dumpsite. Every day, scores of people scavenge through the contaminated garbage to look for food, plastic and metal scraps to sell to recyclers. They get paid very little but still enough to stay around the dumpsite. Some kids even escape school to come to the dumpsite to work. Due to high poverty in the area, some parents even encourage their children to go to “Mukuru” as they call the dumpsite. While some critics will defend the habit, it is a disastrous short term solution to a larger, complex and longer social and economic problem.

how dangerous is it?

It is recognized that some of the key health issues in the region are caused by the dumping of toxic waste. Every day, more than 2,000 metric tonnes of waste is dumped on this site.
The dumpsite is a big health problem and it has had a terrible impact on the environment. soil samples collected from the site recorded high levels of lead. The tests conducted on 328 children and adolescents living and attending school near the dumpsite revealed a significant health impact, with 154 suffering respiratory problems. When the waste is burnt, toxic gases are formed and it is very noxious. Cases of skin disorders, abdominal problems, and eye infections are also common among those tested.

Is anything being done to prevent this? what are the local authorities doing?

The locals have done very little to help the dumpsite except recycling for income. The few actions that have taken place are that few recycling plants have been set up and the Nairobi city county by-laws are trying to ensure proper waste disposal.