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The ‘guilty’ city: World Environment Day in Nairobi

A group of youths is seen sifting through the waste, taking plastic bottles and wasted food-to – be fed to pigs- while paper bags are left there/MOSES MUOKI

NAIROBI, Kenya, Jun 5 – As the world celebrates the World Environment Day, experts have urged the National Environment Management Authority to carry out mass civic education to Kenyans on the need to conserve the environment.

Despite Nairobi being the largest city in East Africa, the beauty of the town is blurred by tonnes of garbage normally on the roadside, a menace that is replicated in residential areas.

As established by Capital FM News, garbage collection is a major “business” owned by cartels that do not care about the health of the public.

In one of the spots in Kawangware, heaps of garbage pile beside the road and even more continues to be taken there, as witnessed by our crew.

“This is where we get our income,” one of the youths told Capital FM News while indicating “that they hate media since you will ruin our business.”

A group of youths is seen sifting through the waste, taking plastic bottles and wasted food-to – be fed to pigs- while paper bags are left there.

To them, it is a business.

University of Nairobi Researcher Raphael Chesori says there is the need for proper solid waste management which remains an eyesore to city residents since most measures remain on paper and even with that, the public was not involved.

“To some extent, the general public is to blame but is the public aware of the policies that are available and those practices that can enable them know it is about their own safety and benefit?” he posed.

Among the notable efforts by the government on this day include the launch of the first training program on climate change policy, planning and budgeting at national and county level towards the implementation of the Climate Change Act 2016.

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To them, it is a business/MOSES MUOKI

Kenyans who spoke to Capital FM News on Monday lauded the recent ban on plastic bags, set to be effected later this years as a right move towards containing the garbage problem.

“It starts with me and you. We all have a responsibility to play towards conserving our world and making it even more habitable,” Terry Muraya, a university student within Nairobi said.

“Nairobi is dirty because of that individual who starts by disposing garbage carelessly.”

According to the government, 24 million plastic carrier bags were used in Kenya in 2010 creating a large mass of waste that would take between 20 to 1,000 years to bio-degrade.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) statistics shows that 92 per cent worldwide do not breathe safe air.

WHO further says climate change is expected to cause 250,000 additional deaths per year between 2030-2050.

Here is what the Kenyans and other key leaders in the world have to say about this day:

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