Boda boda motorcycle taxis are, for many purposes, Kasarani's most flexible transport option — able to reach narrow streets and dense housing that larger vehicles, including our own collection truck, sometimes struggle with. It turns out that flexibility has a waste management application too, one that emerged without us planning it: riders bringing sorted plastic to our buy-back points between fares.
How this started, informally
It began with a small number of riders who noticed households along their regular routes setting aside sorted plastic for buy-back day, and, having space on their bike between fares, offered to carry it to the nearest point directly rather than the household needing to make a separate trip. What started as an occasional favour for a regular customer became, for a handful of riders, a semi-regular activity — picking up sorted plastic from several households along a route and consolidating it into a single drop-off at a buy-back point.
Why this fills a genuine gap
Not every household on our route is within easy walking distance of a buy-back point, particularly in areas further from Kasarani, Roysambu, Sunton or Githurai centres. For households with mobility constraints, limited time, or simply a longer walk than feels worth it for a modest amount of sorted plastic, a boda boda rider willing to carry it as part of an existing trip removes a real barrier to participation that we hadn't fully anticipated when designing our fixed buy-back point locations.
How the arrangement typically works
There's no formal contract or payment structure between us and participating riders; arrangements are informal, negotiated directly between a rider and the households they serve, often for a small fee or simply as part of an existing customer relationship. When plastic arrives at a buy-back point via a rider rather than the household directly, our team weighs and pays exactly as we would for anyone else, with the rider typically passing payment back to the household, sometimes keeping a small agreed portion for the service.
What this means for participation rates
While we don't have precise figures isolating rider-delivered volume specifically, buy-back point staff have noticed a steady, if modest, stream of plastic arriving via boda boda rather than on foot, particularly from households further from a fixed point. It's a small but genuine contributor to keeping segregation and buy-back participation viable for households that might otherwise find the distance too inconvenient to bother with regularly.
Why we haven't tried to formalise this
We've considered whether to build a more structured "collection by boda boda" service directly, but have held off, largely because the informal version already works reasonably well without needing our direct management, and formalising it would likely mean taking on liability, payment processing and coordination overhead that the current arrangement avoids entirely. Sometimes the right response to an organically emerging solution is simply not to get in its way.
What riders themselves say about it
Riders involved describe it as a low-effort way to build goodwill and loyalty with regular customers, rather than a significant income source on its own — the value to them is largely relational, strengthening a customer relationship, with any direct payment a secondary benefit. This aligns with a pattern we've seen elsewhere in how waste-related income works at small scale: it rarely functions as a standalone livelihood, but fits usefully alongside other work and relationships.
Could this become a more structured programme?
We're open to the idea if genuine demand from riders and households points that way, potentially as a lightweight coordination effort rather than full formalisation — connecting interested riders with households further from buy-back points more systematically. For now, it remains an organic, informal practice we're happy to see continue rather than one we're actively trying to engineer into something bigger.
A small but telling detail from how this spread
Interestingly, the practice spread between riders largely through informal conversation at the same stages where riders wait for fares, rather than through any deliberate coordination on our part or theirs. It's a reminder that useful local practices sometimes spread most effectively through existing social networks doing what they already do well, rather than through any formal programme design.
Frequently asked questions
Do boda boda riders get paid by Kasarani Waste Solution for delivering plastic?
No, this is an informal arrangement between riders and households; we simply pay standard buy-back rates for the plastic itself, regardless of how it arrives at the point.
Can I arrange for a boda boda rider to bring my sorted plastic to a buy-back point?
This is generally arranged informally between individual riders and households rather than through us directly; ask a regular rider in your area if they're willing.
Is there a formal boda boda collection programme I can sign up for?
Not currently, though we're open to exploring more structured coordination if there's clear demand; let us know if this would be useful for your household.
Find your nearest buy-back point and its schedule on our programmes page.