From trash to treasure: using Kenya’s waste crisis to generate livelihoods for youth

Abstract

Kenya faces severe climate change challenges, but young entrepreneurs and community leaders are pioneering green initiatives to combat deforestation, water scarcity, and plastic pollution. In 2022, Anita Owiti, a Young African Research Fellow at the HSRC, interviewed young people in Kibera and Dandora, low-income neighborhoods of Nairobi, Kenya, to explore how local entrepreneurs were turning environmental crises into sustainable business opportunities. This article by Lindiwe Malumbazo is based on episode 4 of a podcast series called Hustling the African Dream, which explores how young Kenyans create livelihoods from waste products.