A German Conservationist living in Malindi wants the Government to begin enforcing environmental laws by prosecuting those who dump waste recklessly in the town.

Silvia Jenkins who has been conserving a more than 20 acre forest L’Magiro at Mere along the Malindi Tsavo road for over 20 years said all those dumping trash in their areas should be fined heavily so as to ensure they keep  their surrounding environment clean.

Currently Jenkins said Malindi had many illegal dumpsites which was a major threat to the tourism sector.

To make matters worse, she said people have begun dumping waste beside the Malindi Tsavo road which is spoiling the image of the town.

Speaking after showing journalists around the littered town and showing them the ‘illegal dumpsites’ she also called on the government to seal the potholes along the Malindi Tsavo road as they were contributing to many accidents.

“The habit of people throwing trash which can be recycled has to stop, those doing it are supposed to be fined ,” she said.

The Conservationist said every property owner or business within the town has to be responsible and clean their areas to the tarmac road.

Jenkins  said it’s difficult to attract tourists when the town is full of trash everywhere from plastics to diapers which are painting a bad picture.

In one of the illegal dumping sites within the town, there were cows that were eating plastics and litter was spread everywhere.

The Conservationist said she had a solution to the waste menace and was inviting authorities and stakeholders at her L’magiro farm so as to end the problem.

She said the process may take time, even upto three years but once successful will transform the town for the better.

“I’m Coming from Germany, you know Germany is one of the cleanest towns and we have some recycling areas and there is proper recycling of trash,” she said.

Jenkins said key in ensuring the town is clean is to encourage reuse and recycling of trash which will succeed if the authorities work closely with recycling companies to ensure waste is segregated  and that for recycling is recycled and resusables are reused.

To set an example she took journalists to her L’magiro home in Mere about 10 kilometres from Malindi town to prove how she had kept her environment clean.

She showed journalists how her wastes are segregated and papers are kept in their own bin which are then used to light fire.

Plastic wastes at her home are put together  and taken to recycling while others are taken to a pit set up at one area of the home.

Tree branches are kep separate and are used as firewood while grass and other compost waste is also stored separately and used as manure for making nurseries of indeginous trees .

Her home which is within a 20 acre conserved forest is spotlessly clean as all workers have been trained to dump waste in the different bins .

She believes that if all people cleaned their areas and segregated wastes, the environment would be clean and more tourists would visit Malindi as a cleanest destination.