When Kasarani Waste Solution first put a collection truck on the road, our door-to-door waste collection service covered two villages and a handful of committed households willing to try something new. Today, that same route has grown into a full weekly schedule reaching six villages across Kasarani sub-county — Kasarani, Sunton, Roysambu, Mwiki, Zimmerman, Hunters and Githurai — bringing organised waste pick-up to thousands of residents who previously had no reliable way to have their rubbish collected at all.
How the route grew from two villages to six
The expansion did not follow a master plan drawn up in advance. It followed a simple, repeatable pattern: a village committee would see our collection truck at work in a neighbouring area, ask whether their own streets could be added to the schedule, and our small logistics team would work out whether the existing route and staffing could realistically absorb the extra load. In most cases, once collection days were reshuffled and an extra collector was brought on, it could.
That organic, demand-led growth is deliberate. Rather than pushing collection into an area residents haven't asked for, we let interest from village committees, estate managers and individual households guide where the route goes next. It means every village on our current schedule joined because people there wanted it, not because we decided it for them.
What a typical collection week looks like now
Each of the six villages on our route has a fixed collection day, which residents can rely on rather than waiting for an unpredictable visit. Monday covers Kasarani and Sunton for general and recyclable waste. Tuesday is a recyclable buy-back day in Roysambu. Wednesday is dedicated to organic waste and compost pick-up in Mwiki. Thursday brings general and e-waste collection to Zimmerman. Friday is a full segregated round through Hunters and Githurai. Saturday is reserved for our rotating community clean-up, which moves between villages each month.
This structure matters more than it might seem. Waste management in Nairobi's informal and peri-urban settlements often fails not because nobody is willing to collect it, but because the collection is inconsistent — a truck that comes "sometimes" trains households to dump rather than wait. A fixed day, publicised in advance and rarely missed, is what makes segregation and participation worthwhile for a household.
Why segregated collection, not just collection
We don't run a single mixed-waste truck. From day one, the route has separated organic waste, recyclables and general waste into different collection days or streams, because mixing them undoes most of the value in recycling and composting later. Food scraps that touch plastic and paper make both harder to process. Broken glass hidden in general waste puts our collectors at risk. Segregation at source, done consistently across six villages rather than one, is what allows the rest of our programmes — composting, the plastic buy-back initiative, recycling education in schools — to actually function at scale.
The economics behind the expansion
Households on the route pay a modest, transparent weekly fee that covers fuel, protective equipment for collectors, and fair wages for the team. We publish our fee structure rather than negotiating it informally household by household, because transparency was one of the clearest requests residents made when we first asked what would get them to participate reliably. The surplus beyond running costs is reinvested directly in expanding the route further — more collectors, better sorting equipment, and eventually a permanent materials recovery point, which we've written about separately as part of our long-term plan.
What's next for the route
We are currently assessing two additional villages for the coming quarter, based on requests from residents and estate committees adjacent to our existing route. As with every previous expansion, the deciding factor won't be a spreadsheet alone — it will be whether the community asking for it is ready to commit to fixed collection days and basic segregation habits, since that's what makes a route sustainable rather than a one-off truck visit that quietly stops a few months later.
What growth has meant for staffing and equipment
Six villages cannot be served by the same small team and single truck that covered two. Every expansion has meant bringing on additional trained collectors, most of them residents of the villages they now serve, and adjusting protective equipment, route timing and sorting yard capacity to match. This is one reason growth has been gradual rather than sudden: adding a village without the staffing to serve it properly would mean missed collection days, which erodes the trust that got households segregating and participating in the first place.
It has also meant rethinking logistics more than once. Early on, the route ran as a single loop through all served areas in one day. As villages were added, that stopped being realistic, which is why collection is now spread across fixed days through the week rather than compressed into one. It's a small operational change, but it's the reason a six-village route is more reliable today than a two-village route was at the very start.
If you live on a street that isn't yet part of our schedule, the fastest way to be considered for the next expansion is to write to us with your location and, ideally, a short note showing that several neighbouring households want the same thing. You can see exactly how that process works on our Get Involved page, or browse the full detail of what each collection day covers on our programmes page.
Frequently asked questions
How do I know which day my street is collected?
Each village has one fixed weekly collection day, published on our homepage and programmes page. If you're unsure which day applies to your street, contact us directly and we'll confirm it.
What happens if my village isn't on the route yet?
We prioritise expansion requests that come with visible support from multiple households or an estate committee, since a route only works if enough people commit to using it consistently.
Is the weekly collection fee fixed for every household?
Yes. We publish a standard residential rate rather than negotiating individually, as part of our commitment to transparent, community-accountable pricing.
Can businesses or landlords join the same route as households?
In some cases, yes, though commercial volumes are usually handled on a separate day from residential collection. If you manage a shop, school or rental building near an existing route, contact us to discuss what's possible.
A cleaner Kasarani, one village added at a time, is still our model. If your street could be next, get in touch and tell us where you are.