Dar es Salaam's Zero Waste Ward Hands the Bins to Waste Pickers

Nipe Fagio is a Dar es Salaam NGO that pioneered a community zero waste model, first implemented in Bonyokwa ward in 2019, in which waste pickers, women and youth form cooperatives that run door-to-door segregation, collection and material recovery. A UN-Habitat profile prepared for the UN Secretary-General's Advisory Board on Zero Waste reports 95% diversion, 1.74 tonnes collected daily from 4,500 households and 100% organic waste diversion in Bonyokwa, with 16.4 tonnes of methane avoided each year. The model has since spread to Arusha and Zanzibar. Nipe Fagio and the GAIA network hosted the 2024 International Zero Waste Cities Conference at which the Tanzania Waste Pickers Association (TAWAPA) was launched, and it co-organised the 2025 Waste Pickers Summit in Dar es Salaam.