Problem

Rapid urbanization in Nairobi and surrounding regions has overwhelmed existing waste-management infrastructure. The city generates thousands of tonnes of solid waste daily, but public collection systems are inadequate, and a large share of it ends up in informal dumps, waterways, or open-burning sites. As a result, less than 10% of waste produced gets properly recycled or composted. The rest accumulates in illegal dumpsites or is openly burned, a practice that releases toxic air pollutants, contributes to respiratory illnesses, and emits significant quantities of methane, a greenhouse gas over 80 times more potent than CO₂ over 20 years. At the same time, this contributes to public-health hazards and degraded living conditions, especially harming low-income neighbourhoods already burdened by poor environmental services. Moreover, waste is generally seen as a liability rather than a resource: opportunities for job creation, material recovery, and circular-economy development go largely untapped.

Response

TakaTaka Solutions introduces an end-to-end circular waste-management model that drastically improves material recovery while reducing methane-producing landfill disposal. Instead of focusing solely on collection, the limit of many private and public providers, TakaTaka builds a full ecosystem: collecting waste from homes, businesses, and institutions; transporting it to in-house sorting facilities; and separating it into more than forty distinct material streams. This meticulous sorting enables them to recycle or compost up to 95% of all waste they handle, dramatically reducing what ends up in landfills or informal dumps. Plastics are cleaned and processed into pellets ready for manufacturing; paper, glass, and metals are channelled to certified recycling partners; and organic waste is transformed into high-quality compost used to enrich depleted soils. By closing these loops, TakaTaka not only reduces pollution but also contributes to Kenya’s emerging circular economy.Crucially, the initiative embeds social inclusion into its operating model. Many staff members, including significant numbers of youth and women, come from low-income communities historically excluded from formal employment. TakaTaka offers stable, dignified jobs with training and progression pathways, helping professionalise a sector long dominated by unsafe and informal labour. By building a circular system grounded in community inclusion and climate resilience, the organisation tries to demonstrates how cities can transition away from linear, high-pollution waste models toward systems that regenerate resources and support livelihoods, directly contributing to mitigation of methane emissions, reduced lifecycle emissions of plastics, and a more equitable green economy

Find out more: Alliance to End Plastic Waste, PwC