Managing Human Waste in Informal Settlements: Bio-centres in Kibera Informal Settlement, Kenya

Abstract

Human waste can become an eye-sore when not properly disposed off. It is estimated that every human generates about 300g of human waste per day. In Kenya's largest informal settlement, Kibera -with a population of over one million people -the phenomenon of the "fly toilet" is a daily scourge to life here. Umande and its partners have built 57 bio-centres in Nairobi. Bio-centres have turned the mountains of odorous human waste from a problem into an asset. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how innovative solutions can be made to tackle sanitation challenges and turn envisaged waste into a resource. A survey of the constructed bio-centres in Kibera was made to assess the versatility of the bio-centres. It was revealed that the bio-centres in Kibera have collected 60,000kg of human waste and turned it into biogas. They have further improved access to proper sanitation to the community and built the capacity of community-based organizations to design, plan, construct, manage, and market ecological sanitation services. These bio-centres have reduced methane emissions to the environment are definitively scalable renewable energy source option in the informal settlements.