A group of youths in Makongeni is making a living from collecting garbage from people's homes and disposing it at the designated Kang'ooki dumpsite.
The group, Makongeni Garbage Collectors, which comprises seven young men is licensed by the Kiambu County environment department to provide garbage collection services.
"We applied for the provision of garbage collection services six months ago and we got the contract. We have been doing the work since then and we are doing well so far," Nelson Njuguna the group chairman said on Monday in Makongeni.
Njuguna says they charge Sh50 per household each month with garbage being collected three days per week.
"We have three handcarts (mkokoteni) but we hire some other two to go round the estate collecting garbage in the households allocated to us. We do the work ourselves and the operational costs are minimal," said Njuguna.
Moses Karanja, a member of the group says that the activity has provided them with full time employment and is now encouraging other unemployed youths to embrace the opportunity.
"Garbage collection and disposal still remains a challenge in this area and several other places in the county. Youths should not despise it but rather view it as an opportunity to help them eke a living as we are doing," Karanja advised.