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Published on: 06/11/2026 - 10:11
Two thousand tonnes of waste are dumped every day in the landfill in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya. An army of little hands then rushes to collect the recyclable materials. These invisible heroes of the environment may sacrifice themselves to the task, but only 7% of plastic can be treated.
Plaster, disinfectant, thread and needles... In Nairobi, Kevin fills his first aid kit and gets on his bike. To reach his patients, the nurse plunges into a mountain of waste: Dandora, the landfill of the Kenyan capital. In the middle of the garbage: cows, goats, big birds and hundreds of little hands. They are the scrappers of recycling.
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All day long, they search through this waste to recover plastic bottles and other recyclable containers before reselling them to companies responsible for their processing. But behind the green image that appeals so much to investors lies a tragic reality. These little hands are constantly injured: glass, syringes, rusty metal... They also breathe toxic fumes, emanations from a permanent fire.
Less than one euro per day
Collectors often earn less than one euro per day, have no insurance and yet carry out work essential to the survival of the Kenyan capital. Here, many die before their forties, explains Kevin, a single nurse. Once he graduated, he worked in a hospital and was preparing to move to the United Kingdom. But the Covid epidemic prevented this. Stranded in Nairobi, he then discovered the reality of waste pickers. He then abandoned his post to help them. Since 2020, he has defended those he calls “environmental heroes” and campaigns for them to be more supported by the authorities.
His fight is also that of the planet. Not all the plastics collected by collectors can be processed: lack of equipment, lower financial interest, poor quality materials, etc. Only 7% of plastics are recycled. Kevin is campaigning for better treatment of the little hands of recycling, but also raising a cry of warning: we must stop using single-use plastics. The landfill is overflowing a little more every day, like many others around the world. Every year, 460 million tonnes of plastic are produced... The planet cannot continue on this path.
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