Strategic Factors Affecting Sustainable Industrial Waste Management in Kenya A Case Study of Nairobi Bottlers Limited

Abstract

The main purpose of this study was to examine the strategic factors that affect sustainable industrial waste management at Nairobi Bottlers. The study attempted to answer the following research questions; How does waste reduction strategy contribute to sustainable waste management? To what extent does waste reuse strategy lead to sustainable waste management? And how does recycling of waste help in sustainable waste management? This study adopted a descriptive research design. The study adopted this design owing to the inability to manipulate the collected data. Quantitative methods were used to analyze collected data. After data had been data collected via the questionnaires, it was examined for completeness then coded. It was then entered into Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) for subsequent analysis. The sample frame for the study was obtained from the human resource payroll listing. The sample was classified into several strata as the researcher used simple random sampling technique to select the desired sample size from each stratum of the population. A sample of 20% of the entire population was used since the employees in the different lines of operations were homogenous in terms of the knowledge they possess with regards to waste management. The study shows that the onus and costs of managing waste streams should be placed on ‘producers’ of the waste and that, municipal solid waste management system has changed from being efficient to the current status that displays a lot of inefficiencies. It also showed that, storage, collection, transportation and final treatment/disposal of wastes has become a major problem in urban centers and that, the global trend of increased use of electrical and electronic goods has led to an increase in E-waste becoming a significant threat to our environment and human health. The study revealed that, a sustainable method of waste management involves looking for opportunities to reduce waste even during the product life cycle and implementation of simplified leanness evaluation metrics can be used to reduce waste and improve effectiveness and efficiency in organizations. It also showed that, availability of adequate garbage disposal in urban area can improve community development and cohesion of waste management and organizations should involve communities around them in waste management programs to promote publicity on waste management. The study showed that reusing waste is the best strategy of creating a sustainable waste management by companies and an effective way to reuse solid waste is through burning materials that are combustible and melting down non-combustible materials through the company`s incinerators. It also showed that, waste ash from incineration can be used to improve soil fertility on urban areas and disposal of both non-degradable and degradable wastes separately can be used to safely use the generated wastes for agricultural purposes. The study revealed that, the country has put in place institutions to address climate change, biological diversity and combating desertification and that, the Kenyan Government has put in place a wide range of policy, institutional and legislative frameworks to address the major causes of environmental degradation and negative impacts on ecosystems emanating from industrial and economic development programmes. The study also showed that, private sector involvement can facilitate efficient municipal solid waste management services as compared to the public and that, public waste awareness and support facilitates the success of companies in managing industrial waste. The study concludes that, waste management in the urban centers has been subjected to enormous commercial and legal changes over the last two decades and the country has a sustained and multi-faceted legislative and policy attack on landfill, and waste management both at the domestic and international level. The study also concludes that behavioral instruments could be used in implementing waste management strategies through initiatives that inform and educate and waste awareness and participation and that recycling can also be used by companies at waste recycling plants as a strategy of creating a sustainable waste management system. The study recommends that the policy makers in both government and companies make use of behavioral instruments that could be used in implementing waste management strategies through initiatives that inform and educate and waste awareness and participation. They can achieve this using recognition programs, and door-to-door awareness, and it also recommends that industries should involve and train the public to help them manage their waste.