Sustainable valorisation of organic urban wastes : insights from African case studies

Understanding the problems and potentials of the organic waste stream is perhaps the single most important step that city authorities in Africa could take in moving towards sustainable, affordable, effective and efficient waste management. This publication presents four examples of recent attempts to manage organic waste sustainably in the African context. The participants in the ‘Nairobi organic urban waste’ project have structured this case exercise in order to use the case studies as object lessons, to harvest genuine insights into the feasibility of a variety of ways to successfully and sustainably valorise urban organic waste streams. Three contemporary case examples of compost production are presented. These include composting by a community-based organisation in the Kenyan private sector and by a public-private partnership in Malawi. In all three cases, the project and case study focus is on the relations between city waste and the agricultural supply chain. A fourth case study describes the technical and economic potential to produce and use biogas from urban organic waste

Converting City Waste into compost pilot Nairobi (LNV-BO-10-006-115) : report phase one: inventory and assessment

The ‘Converting City Waste in Compost Project’ is being implemented in an effort to explore options for the development of a viable system of collecting, processing, distribution and marketing of valorized organic city waste material, for application in urban and peri-urban agriculture within East Africa and Nairobi in particular. The first phase of the project involves an inventory and analysis of organic waste sources, coupled with the quantification and characterization of non-domestic organic waste streams in Nairobi City. This study represents the findings of phase one and forms a basis for evaluating the potential for diversion of organic waste from Nairobi to compost production and biogas generation