Kasarani River Clean-Up Removes Over 40 Bags of Waste

Forty-one volunteers, three local schools and the area chief's office joined our quarterly river-corridor clean-up, our biggest turnout for this activity yet.

The Details

Our quarterly clean-up along the Kasarani river corridor brought together 41 volunteers, pupils from three local primary schools, and representatives from the area chief's office. Over 40 bags of solid waste were cleared from illegal dumping points that had built up since the previous clean-up, much of it plastic packaging that had been blocking drainage points along the bank.

The day closed with a short waste-sorting lesson for the visiting school groups, run by volunteers using materials collected earlier that morning as live examples, followed by the planting of 60 indigenous tree seedlings along the most eroded stretch of riverbank.

Camp Nuo moved this activity to a fixed quarterly calendar in 2025 after years of running clean-ups on an ad-hoc basis. Organisers say the predictability has made it far easier for schools to plan around, and for the same stretch of river to be revisited before waste has a chance to accumulate again.

"We used to flood every long rains because of blocked drains. The river is breathing again." — A Mwiki resident near the river corridor

Why It Matters

Blocked drains and a polluted river corridor are not just an environmental concern in Mwiki — they translate directly into flooding, waterborne illness risk and reduced land value for families living nearby. A fixed quarterly schedule, rather than occasional clean-ups, is what actually changes the trajectory of the corridor over time.