The Rotary Club of Athi Kapiti in Athi-river sub county, Machakos County has called upon institutions and Kenyans to adopt integrated waste management systems in an effort to protect and manage the environment while preventing pollution.
The Rotary club has called for this waste disposal through segregation, because improper waste disposal such as plastic pollution and E waste, pose major health risk to humans and the environment.
This call came after the Rotary Club in collaboration with Oxford University Press, did a needs assessment of Mavoko SNP high school where they found out lack of proper waste management and books were the main challenges.
According to James Kitavi representative of the Rotary club and head of KISEKI, a non-profit organization who was speaking at the school, they visited the school earlier and realized waste management was not done appropriately as there were no segregation bins for putting in the different types of waste material found in schools or institutions thus exposing students to pollution and possible disease outbreak.
Kitavi said that they donated color coded bins which is in line with National Environmental Management Authority guidelines (NEMA), to help students sort and separate plastics from food waste and metallic waste.
“While doing the needs assessment at the school, we found lack of proper waste management and we felt the need to allocate segregation bins that are color coded per the NEMA guidelines and a waste station to help in separation of waste materials and reduce emerging health challenges,” added Kitavi.
He urged other institutions and parents to adopt the waste management method of segregation especially E-waste, that can be taken to designated NEMA licensed recycling stations to be reused.
Judy Wanjiru the Environmental Club President at Mavoko SNP High reiterated that they had been struggling with proper waste disposal as the kitchen area was used as their informal dumping site, the color-coded bins have excited the students and they are looking forward to a clean and healthy environment moving forward.
She encouraged the students to be consistent and committed in separating waste and maintaining a sustainable healthy environment for all.
Additionally, the needs assessment also highlighted the challenge of books for the school where one book was shared among six students and so the Rotary Club in collaboration with Oxford University Press donated 500 books to empower young minds through education.
By Anne Kangero
