Circular Cities by Ecorich helps communities in Nairobi's informal settlements and food markets turn organic waste into a resource. By combining decentralized waste collection, women and youth-led recycling and AI-enabled, solar technology, the initiative creates cleaner neighborhoods, green jobs and affordable fertilizers for farmers.
Nairobi generates approximately 2,400 tons of waste daily — over 80% of this waste is organic, yet only 45% is collected, and just 8% is recycled. Much of the remaining waste is left in open dumps, rivers and drains, with the burden falling hardest on the 60% of residents living in informal settlements. Rotting waste clogs drains, contributes to flooding and increases risk of waterborne and respiratory disease in communities often excluded from formal waste services.
- Established decentralized waste collection points in informal settlements and food markets, processing organic waste close to its source and removing the need for costly long-distance hauling
- Deployed solar-powered, AI-driven “WasteBots” that convert organic waste into organic fertilizer within 24 hours, turning a pollution source into a local product
- Trained and employed women and youth as waste collectors, WasteBot operators, community educators and fertilizer distribution agents, embedding the system within the community rather than operating it as an outside service
- Integrated informal waste pickers into the model as site coordinators and aggregators, preserving livelihoods and building trust
- Conducted door-to-door outreach and community education on waste separation, building household-level ownership of the system and encouraging source segregation
- Closed the urban-rural loop by selling organic fertilizer to smallholder farmers at a fraction of the cost of chemical alternatives, linking city waste management to rural food security and farm incomes
- Engaged county officials, health authorities and community leaders through a multistakeholder roundtable in response to a proposed shutdown, using shared sanitation and health data to formalize safety protocols and secure continued operating approval
- Refined the technology in response to community feedback by adding air filtration, soundproofing and relocating units away from homes, addressing odor and noise concerns
- Scaled from a single pilot site to multiple informal settlements through the same community-embedded model, replicating the collection-point-plus-local-workforce structure rather than a fixed technology rollout
- Expanded from Kibera into neighboring settlements, including Lindi, Gatwekera and Mathare, through grassroots community engagement, door-to-door outreach and training programs for women and youth, while establishing six decentralized waste collection points across high-density urban areas
- Diverted over 4,000 tons of organic waste from open dump sites in Nairobi's informal settlements, reducing waste accumulation in affected areas by 20%
- Reduced flooding incidents by 25%
- Improved air and water quality for residents in Kibera, Mathare and surrounding communities
- Reduced waterborne and respiratory disease incidence by 15% in areas of operation, with local clinics reporting drops in diarrheal and respiratory infections
- Created more than 500 direct green jobs for women and engaged over 300 youth in waste collection, WasteBot operation and fertilizer distribution, boosting household incomes by 30% in informal settlements
- Sensitized 3,500 households through door-to-door outreach on waste segregation and recycling, driving adoption of sustainable practices and visibly cleaner streets
- Produced and distributed affordable organic fertilizer to over 7,200 smallholder farmers in Kiambu, Machakos and Nyandarua counties, reducing farming input costs by up to 70% and improving crop yields
