Nairobi's biggest dumpsite: A ticking time bomb

Every day, the Dandora dumpsite receives more than 2,000 metric tonnes of waste from the capital city’s over four million residents.

The 12-hectare land, located in the east of Nairobi, hosts an informal recycling economy which feeds nearly 3,000 families in surrounding slums. 

Known as “boma” by residents, the dumpsite has become home to an estimated 3,000 people in the area. Boma means homestead in Kiswahili.

Apart from the toxic fumes scavengers are exposed to, rape cases and drug trafficking have been reported.

Heaps of garbage go as far as the eye can see in this part of Nairobi. 

A scavenger carries recyclable waste at Dandora dumpsite on September 28, 2020.

The dumpsite has become home to an estimated 3,000 people in the area.

Health experts in the area say the upper respiratory tract infections they have been treating for years are consistent with exposure to toxic fumes.

The UN has previously warned that local schoolchildren had respiratory problems because of the dumpsite.