It’s dirty, backbreaking and dangerous work. But for many Kenyans, digging through a mountain of deadly garbage is the only way to survive.
Every day, around 2,000 people – mainly women and children – rummage through the Dandora dump on the outskirts of Nairobi, desperately searching for dirty plastic, broken glass and medical waste for recyclables to sell – or even food to eat. A kilo of plastic will earn them just 11p.
Many work with their bare hands, risking their health as they do so. Scavengers are vulnerable to cancer, respiratory problems, skin problems, yeast infections, and miscarriages and infertility, among a host of other conditions.
Sites like this are proliferating in the developing world. Globally, in countries such as India, Ghana and Vietnam, waste pickers, who are mostly women, suffer from debilitating diseases as a result.
Griffins Ochieng, executive director of the Center for Environmental Justice and Development, a Nairobi-based non-profit organization focused on the problem of plastic waste, says: “This is a global problem. Any dump – anywhere there is plastic pollution – women will be affected.”
Dandora is Nairobi’s main dumping ground. Every day, it receives more than 2,000 metric tons of waste from the capital’s 4.5 million residents. Among them are the rotting remains of nearby slaughterhouses (Photo: Gerald Anderson/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images) Described as a “dangerous recycling economy”, the landfill puts food on the tables of around 3,000 families. But it also pollutes the air, land and water supply for miles around (Photo: Gerald Anderson/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images) Pungent smoke rises into the air, risking the health of both waste pickers and the nearby community. Many of the women at the site end up with cancer after inhaling and ingesting heavy metals such as lead and mercury (Photo: Gerald Anderson/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images) Inhaling the noxious fumes generated by burning garbage, especially e-waste, is also very very dangerous. The soil and air are also contaminated with mercury, which over time can damage the nervous system (Photo: Gerald Anderson/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images) The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) warns that the Dandora dump poses a serious threat to human health working and living nearby as recently as 2007. Women at the site reported infrequent periods and miscarriages (Photo: Gerald Anderson/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images) Dozens of pickers roam around looking for plastic bottles, bags, bones and pig feed. They sometimes cut themselves from the glass, while needle injuries make them susceptible to blood-borne diseases such as HIV or hepatitis (Photo: Gerald Anderson/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images) Zebras once roamed the area, but now it is a mountain of garbage. In the 1970s, World Bank money allowed homes, schools and playgrounds to be built in Dandora, but as it became overcrowded and jobs were lost, rubbish began to be dumped on the site of an old quarry (Photo: Gerald Anderson/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images) Half of the children living and studying near the dump were found to have respiratory illnesses and blood lead levels equal to or exceeding internationally accepted toxic levels, while three in ten had abnormalities of red blood cells, according to the United Nations Environment Program (Photo: Gerald Anderson/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images) The Dandora dump is an informal workplace for about 10,000 women, children and a few men who dig through the piles of trash daily, according to a report by Concern Worldwide since 2012 (Photo: Gerald Anderson/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images) Environmental pollution emitted by Dandora has caused people to suffer from ma laria, chicken pox, septic wounds, congenital anomalies and cardiovascular disease, according to the United Nations Environment Program (Photo: Gerald Anderson/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images) The Dandora depot, which covers approximately 30 acres, is the destination of about 850 tonnes solid waste generated daily by Nairobi, which has a population of over 5 million (Photo: Gerald Anderson/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images) Garbage from restaurants and bags full of food scraps can be found scattered around the site. A crowd forms here hoping to find something to eat or plastic bottles containing drinking water (Photo: Gerald Anderson/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images) Trucks delivering garbage to the dump dump a steady stream of dirt that rains down the surrounding streets . Smoke from the burning waste seeps into local schools, making children sick from the smell of burning plastic (Photo: Gerald Anderson/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images) A convoy carrying garbage fills the 30-acre dump every day. The site was deemed full in 1996 and although the Environment and Land Court ordered the landfill to close in July 2021, it continues to operate (Photo: Gerald Anderson/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images) Air pollution can be reduced through proper waste management, but this is not the case in Dandora, where health and environmental risks are caused by unrestricted dumping of domestic, industrial, hospital and agricultural waste (Photo: Gerald Anderson/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images) Skin diseases , cancers, respiratory abnormalities and blood disorders are just some of the public health risks posed by environmental pollution emanating from the landfill site (Photo: Gerald Anderson/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images) Toxicants end up in waste collectors’ systems by inhalation, ingestion and absorption. They are left with a host of ailments, including fungal infections, abdominal and intestinal problems, renal and kidney failure, and impaired neurodevelopment (Photo: Gerald Anderson/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images) Many of the waste pickers come from nearby slums. One of the closest, Korogocho, is home to about 200,000 people crammed into an area of 1.5 square kilometers. It is known for high levels of poverty, crime, alcohol and drug abuse, domestic violence and widespread HIV and AIDS (Photo: Gerald Anderson/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images) Children working at the dump were tested as part of a UN Program for environmental study. Half of them had toxic levels of lead in their blood, leading to headaches, chest pains and muscle weakness. Many also suffered from asthma, conjunctivitis and dermatitis (Photo: Gerald Anderson/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images) The recycling is weighed, ready for sale. It’s a terrible job. Garbage pickers search for hours under the Kenyan sun, with no running water nearby. Those who work at the landfill believe they have no other option. (Photo: Gerald Anderson/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
A snapshot
Welcome to Snapshot, Metro.co.uk’s new photo series, bringing you the most impactful images and stories of the moment.
If you have a collection of photos you’d like to share, get in touch by emailing Claie.Wilson@metro.co.uk
MORE: Sold for sex and slavery: Girls and young women learn to live after being trafficked
MORE: Trapped on the frontline: The underground life of the war-torn Ukrainian town of Bakhmut
Add Comment