Nyalenda, a major slum in Kisumu, has thousands of people residing in it which requires improved sanitation.

The fresh toilets innovation started in Nairobi’s Mukuru Kwa Njenga slums 11 years ago with 4,000 serving more than 200, 000 people.

More than 20,000 residents of Nyalenda slums in Kisumu have benefited from safe and inclusive sanitation services.

The programme is being implemented by Kisumu Water and Sanitation Company in partnership with Fresh Life targets to improve sanitation in the informal settlements.

Fresh Life head of operations Florence Mwikali said the innovative latrine project is aimed at reaching all the people in Kisumu’s urban informal settlements without access to safely managed sanitation.

The objective, Mwikali said, is to end the unhygienic human waste disposal methods in slum areas to help restore sanitation dignity.

She said Fresh Life provides end-to-end non-sewered sanitation solutions, and will deliver safe and quality sanitation services.

This will happen via dry, container-based sanitation facilities called Fresh Life Toilets and In-home Fresh Fit toilets that target residential areas and households.

The partnership, which was formalised in 2020 and piloted in Nyalenda A and Nyalenda B wards, has seen more than 700 fresh life toilets facilities installed, serving 20,000 residents daily.

Nyalenda, a major slum in Kisumu, has thousands of people residing in it which requires improved sanitation. Fresh Life uses Urine Dry Diverting technology, which separates urine from faecal matter.

Mwikali said they collect over two tonnes of waste from the project, which is disposed of at Kiwasco sites for treatment.

The waste is collected twice every two days, and then ferried to Kiwasco waste treatment plant in Kisat.

“The sanitation has been a major concern with the increase in population in Nyalenda but this has since improved following the installation of fresh toilets,” she said.

For years, residents have been depending on pit latrines due to the lack of sewerage system in Nyalenda slums. 

 “We have seen tremendous sanitation improvement since formalising the partnership. The container based sanitation which implements innovative ways of human waste disposal,” the head of operations said.

With the installation of more than 700 latrines, she said the unhygienic human waste disposal methods have massively declined in Nyalenda.

Apart from latrines, Mwikali said they have also installed hand washing stations thereby reducing diseases such as cholera and diarrhoea.

The fresh toilets innovation started in Nairobi’s Mukuru Kwa Njenga slums 11 years ago with 4,000 serving more than 200, 000 people in 11 informal settlements.

“As Fresh Life, we target people who do not have access to the sewer system and sensitise them on the importance of this kind of technology with more focus on landlords,” Mwikali said.

Kiwasco managing director Thomas Odongo said approximately 18 per cent of the population in Kisumu county is connected to a sewer and 5 per cent has access to a septic tank.

He said the rest of the population relies on unimproved pit latrines for sanitation or practices open defecation.

“This is both a public and environmental risk, as the county is home to Lake Victoria, one of the largest freshwater lakes in Africa,” Odongo said.

He spoke on Tuesday after they signed an extension of the memorandum for the pilot of the project by one year.

Odongo said the main objective was to ensure the service was expanded to other areas, with sanitation being the main agenda of the company.

He said the Fresh Life solution is a great addition to the sanitation solutions present in Kisumu county. “It is inclusive, affordable and sustainable, thereby bridging a critical sanitation gap in our county.” 

“We have 87 per cent water coverage, against 18 per cent sewer coverage. In 2019, we decided to focus more on sanitation,” he said.

Odongo said the sanitation coverage has increased from five per cent to 50 per cent since they partnered with Fresh Life on sanitation.

Fresh Life MD Meltus Mugomi said the partnership with Kiwasco presents numerous opportunities for the county to innovate and accelerate sustainable sanitation services to citizens.

“It has also been an opportunity to enhance stakeholder capacity building following collaboration with each other,” Mugomi said.

He said the inadequate sewerage system has seen human waste to be disposed of in unhygienic manner in slums areas.

Mugomi said beneficiaries of the facilities pay a deposit of Sh950, and another Sh950 every month for the maintenance and collection of the waste.

The beneficiaries are also given starter kits, which include mop buckets, mops, hand washing station, gloves, cleaning brush, tissue and sawdust.

The technology does not require water, but the sawdust in place of water to cover the solid waste. The sawdust also helps absorb water from the solid waste, hence reducing the bad smell, and then controlling houseflies

With the technology, there is conservation of water and reduction of diseases. “The innovation is to ensure people have dignity in waste disposal, conserve the environment and control diseases,” Mugomi said.

The programme has created more than  200 jobs in Kisumu.

Fresh Life produces 50 latrines every month depending on the demand.

Close to 50 people have been directly employed by the project, with the remaining being suppliers of raw material for the fabrication of the products, transportation of the waste and provision of cleaning products.

Mugomi said the expansion of the project in Obunga and Manyatta slums would depend on finance, bearing in mind that there have been massive strides made in sanitation.

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