Solid waste disposal has grown into a prominent problem in most developing countries arising
from population growth and urbanization in the cities. Municipal authorities who are responsible
in enforcing existing by-laws appear not to have the capacity to tackle the worsening situation of
waste. The purpose of the study was to look at the locals' knowledge, attitudes, and practices
around management of solid waste in Eastleigh, Nairobi County. Choosing Eastleigh as the
study site was largely influenced by the fact that Eastleigh is one of Nairobi's most heavily
populated urban areas. The study's goal was to look into Eastleigh people' s solid waste
management knowledge, attitudes, and practices. The study anticipated that individuals' level of
awareness has little bearing on the management of solid waste in Eastleigh. Further, the study
hypothesized that residents attitude does not affect management of solid waste in Eastleigh. The
study was anchored on behaviour change model which works on the proposition that knowledge
influences attitude which ultimately directs behaviour. Purposive sampling technique was
employed in picking the participants. Selection was dependent accessibility, willingness and
availability to take part in the survey among residents. Three methods were applied in data
collection; questionnaires, key informants and observation. The inhabitants demonstrated an
understanding of the many sorts of garbage produced. Study findings indicated that most of the
waste that was generated was organic with food remains at 43%,fruit and vegetable peelings at
43% while human waste together with old clothing stood at 12.2% and 1.9% respectively.
Inorganic waste was mainly generated from plastics at 40.6% while obsolete cutlery, glass and
metal stood at 18.9% and 5.5% respectively. The prevailing methods of solid waste management
included discarding waste on the roadside and in the drainage systems at 48%, dump pits and
open burning at 43%. Solid waste management was associated with many challenges including
infrequent/irregular waste collection with the majority of the respondents indicating collection was
done once a week at 61%, unregularized dumping, low awareness of its ills and consequent
resident's apathy among residents
coupled Nairobi County Government's casual manner of
handling waste management issues. Unwillingness and avoidance of residents to contract private
garbage collectors was also indicated as a contributing factor to poor waste management with
about 5.1% of the participants indicating they were happy with Services for rubbish collection
and disposal. Participants in the study were found to be informed about several areas of trash
management. However, the citizens' attitude was determined to be negative, despite the fact that
they held knowledge. Majority of the respondents at 82.6% did not think that it was everybody's
responsibility to management waste. Most of the residents interviewed at 48% indicted that they
have never participated in any clean up exercise. The negative attitude was concluded to be
negatively impacting on residents waste management practices . The Nairobi City
County Government was found culpable for the resident's unwillingness to participate in
management of waste due to its poor and irregular collection and eventual disposal of waste,
provision of waste collection bins and other implements. Since residents had knowledge on
various aspects of waste management the study recommended that greater focus should be
geared towards enforcing existing laws on solid waste management.
Nairobi County Government should make every effort to provide private rubbish collection
service providers with a subsidy while also organizing regular and well-coordinated clean-up
efforts.