Waste management predicaments in attaining sustainable city status globally is challenged by increased solid waste generation as a result of rapid urban population and migration. Through a critique lens, solid waste management predicaments in developing countries characterized by inefficiencies; weak institutional capacities and lack of financial prudence. Nairobi City illustrates vividly predicaments through sporadic growth of open dumpsites, blocked drainers and sewers, indiscriminate behavior of littering. This is aided by weak enforcement of solid waste policies and regulations, duplicity of mandates by institutions and limited human resources. This paper undertakes to explicate predicaments in Nairobi City County and is supported by institutional, capacity and planned behavior theories. The study adopted mixed research design with data collection from a sample size of 385 household. Primary and secondary data was collected using questionnaires, key informant interview and focus group discussion; transect walk and desk top analysis. The results support the critique as documented by this paper. The study recommends institutional empowerment to reverse negative predicaments for sustainable global cities. Keywords: critique, sustainable cities, waste management, predicaments, Nairobi City, Kenya

Partnerships as enshrined in policies are vital for achieving sustainable cities under the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Indeed the SDGs recognize the importance of partnerships in solid waste management (SWM) as a way of developing workable and reliable waste management systems. SWM in Nairobi city continues to be a great challenge, and poor practices threaten environmental and public health. Ineffective waste management in Nairobi city has been linked to inefficient policy implementation and enforcement by different stakeholders. To effectively address the challenge of sustainable waste management in Nairobi city, amalgamation of strategies amongst several segments, including stakeholders, private and public sectors (formal and informal), non-governmental organizations and communities, is important, through partnerships to implement improved policies, in terms of capacity, financial prudence, and technical and institutional factors. The paper seeks to analyse existing policy framework on SWM and its effectiveness in addressing SWM in Nairobi city. The study is based on a descriptive research design which involved interrogating the stakeholders included in the implementation of the policy frameworks in place. Data were acquired through semi-structured questionnaires administered to 385 respondents and interviews with 10 key informants. The theoretical framework is based on institutional theory and capacity building theories that expound the gaps in policy implementation and the role of partnerships. Policies in SWM should be interlinked for sustainable cities.

Institutional frameworks serve as vehicles for proper solid waste management. Lapses in institutional structures create ecological disasters that affect public health and environmental degradation. Municipal solid waste management is a critical subject worldwide, and removal and control of municipal solid waste remain a global task, specifically in developing countries. The case of Ngomongo illustrates lapses in waste institutions in Nairobi City. The research design for the study used a mixed-method where primary data was collected using transect walk, questionnaires with 385 households administered, and satellite images. Focus group discussions and key informant interviews used to ensure the validity and reliability of the data. The results show the lapses that exist in institutional frameworks in Nairobi City as supported by the objective of the study. The effects demonstrated by the doubled number of mini-landfills, open waste sites on the roadside over the decade.

Institutional frameworks serve as vehicles for proper solid waste management. Lapses in institutional structures create ecological disasters that affect public health and environmental degradation. Municipal solid waste management is a critical subject worldwide, and removal and control of municipal solid waste remain a global task, specifically in developing countries. The objective of the research was to analyze the effects of institutional framework lapses in solid waste management in Nairobi, Kenya. The case of Ngomongo illustrates lapses in waste institutions in Nairobi City. The research design for the study used a mixed-method where primary data was collected using a transect walk, questionnaires with 385 households administered, and satellite images. Focus group discussions and key informant interviews were used to ensure the validity and reliability of the data. The results show the lapses that exist in institutional frameworks in Nairobi City as supported by the objective of the study. The effects are demonstrated by the doubled number of mini-landfills, and open waste sites on the roadside over the decade.

Africa is a rising continent with a lot of development taking place having a youthful robust growing population. Africa’s urbanization is projected to double in the next decade with an equally increasing population in urban and cities surroundings. A growing population also intimates that waste generation will also double if not triple from the developments and human activities associated with a growing urban populace. Waste generation from a global level is expected to double by 2050 with cities and urban centers being the highest contributors to waste generation. Thus, Africa will require measures and policies that will address the future of sustainable waste management in its entirety. In this regard, Africa needs to take stock of their waste management infrastructure and highlight the gaps in existence. One of the problems that are crosscutting in Africa is the gap in full realization of the potential of recycling of waste and the economic and environmental gains attributed to recycling. In Africa, less than 10% of the countries having recycling plants that operate optimally as well as have infrastructure that can sustain proper waste management from financial to personnel. This chapter outlines the gap in recycling.