Assessing end of life vehicles’ environmental management systems in Kenya: the case of Nairobi city county waste management streams

Abstract

There is a growing evidence that some older cars are smuggled to the country, which is likely to cause serious environmental effects since the rise of the older motor vehicle population in the country results in the volume of ELV waste and hence the need to assess the ELV waste streams, especially in Nairobi City County of Kenya. Therefore, this study aimed at assessing the End-of-Life Vehicles’ (ELV) Environmental Management Systems in Nairobi City County, Kenya. The study used mixed research method and a sample size of 62 firms comprising of 32 garages, 15 insurance firms, and 15 salvage companies was selected from Nairobi City County, on a stratified basis combined with the convenient sampling technique. A semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect the required information from firm owners and/or managers, and descriptive statistical techniques comprising of frequency tables, percentages, pie charts, and bar graphs were used to summarize, present, and analyze the information in an informative way. The practices employed to manage ELV waste included contracting salvage firms to collect written off vehicles by insurance companies, recycling of salvaged parts, selling the usable parts to dealers of vehicle parts and disposal of non-salvageable parts including hazardous products via firm mechanisms such as collecting the material and putting fluids in tanks and disposing them off in designated dumpsites. Research findings indicated that ELV waste products associated with three waste streams (insurance firms, garages, salvage companies) can be grouped into three categories, comprising of recyclable waste (metals and plastics, car batteries, and rubber tyres), non-recyclable (spoilt seat covers and sponges), and hazardous (various car fluids including waste fuel, engine oil transmission, power steering, and brake fluids, coolant, lubricants, solvents, degreasers, and acid from batteries). It is recommended that stringent waste management policies and guidelines for the salvage companies and garages should be put in place to mitigate against environmental pollution.