NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Armed with garden hoes while others held bamboo seedlings, students gathered outside their school in the Kenyan capital. They hoped the mature bamboo would help filter dirty air from one of Africa’s largest landfills next door.
More than 100 bamboo plantings are spread around Dandora Secondary School, whose name coincides with the landfill that was declared full 23 years ago. Hundreds of trucks still drive by every day to dump even more garbage.
Allan Sila, 17, said sitting in his classroom was like studying in a smelly latrine.
Acrid smoke from burning trash fills the air every morning, obscuring visibility and causing breathing problems for some students.
“Asthma is a well-known disease,” Sila said.
The school’s principal, Eutychus Maina, recalled that the smell and smoke greeted him when he was deployed last year. He knew he had to do something.
“My motivation for initiating the bamboo project at school was to mitigate the impact of landfill. It really pollutes the air we breathe,” he said.
He said he researched online and came across the use of bamboo. He believes this will help reduce cases of respiratory infections in the community.
The fast-growing bamboo has been promoted by the United Nations and others because of its high carbon dioxide absorption.
Aderiana Mbandi is an air quality research and policy expert at the United Nations Environment Program based in Nairobi. She said the effects of air pollution are felt in all parts of the body, including the brain, and the best way to reduce its impact is to minimize exposure.
The seedlings that the students began planting last August are already three meters tall. Depending on soil conditions, the giant bamboo variety is expected to reach a height of 40 feet when fully grown.
The students hope the bamboo will help transform the school premises into a green oasis in the garbage-strewn Dandora district.
The publicly funded school relies on donations to afford the seedlings, which retail for 400 Kenya shillings ($3) each.
But school leaders are determined to keep going until bamboo lines the 900-meter-long wall that separates the school and the landfill.
The Dandora landfill covers approximately 50 hectares (123 acres) of land and receives more than 2,000 tons of waste daily from the surrounding area of Nairobi, home to 4 million people.
Its stench can be smelled for miles.
UNEP, in collaboration with the Stockholm Environmental Institute, deployed sensors in the Dandora district from October to April to monitor pollution levels at the landfill.
Of the 166 days monitored, only 12 had excellent daily air quality on average, according to World Health Organization guidelines.
Nairobi’s air is also polluted by emissions from used cars, which account for much of the city’s transportation. Other pollutants include smoke from industrial operations, which are often located near residential areas.
Dandora School also plants trees including jacaranda and grevillea.
Student Josiah Nyamwata called them easy to obtain and easy to plant. “The other benefit is that the trees will help improve air circulation around our school,” he said.
The air isn’t the school’s only challenge. Vultures in the landfill are a nuisance during meal times. The students protect their plates from theft.
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