Assessment of Current E-Waste Management Practices among Hotels in Naivasha Sub-County, Kenya

The rapid growth of electrical and electronic waste (e-waste) has become a major environmental and public health concern, particularly in developing countries where inadequate recycling infrastructure and weak institutional capacity constrain sustainable management. Despite the hospitality industry's intensive use and frequent replacement of electrical and electronic equipment, empirical evidence on e-waste management practices among hotels in Sub-Saharan Africa remains limited. This study therefore assessed current e-waste management practices among classified hotels in Naivasha Sub-County, Kenya. An explanatory sequential mixed-methods design was employed, involving 69 stratified, randomly selected hotels and five purposively selected key informants from relevant environmental, public health, tourism, and regulatory institutions. Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Pearson's correlation, hierarchical multiple regression, and analysis of variance (ANOVA), while qualitative data were analyzed thematically and integrated through triangulation. Repairing electrical and electronic equipment was the most commonly reported practice (95.7%), followed by storage within hotel premises (84.1%). Other practices included disposal with general waste (59.4%), selling to e-waste collectors (46.4%), reuse (44.9%), and selling to scrap dealers (42.0%). Less common practices were refurbishing (23.2%), storage outside hotel premises (11.6%), donation to third parties (10.1%), and recycling (7.2%); with none of the hotels reporting burning or incineration. Current management practices were moderately and positively correlated with effective e-waste management (r = .520, p < .01) but were not significant predictors in either of the regression models (β = .045, p = .733; β = −.051, p = .624). The final hierarchical regression model explained 69.6% of the variance in effective e-waste management (R² = .696; adjusted R² = .672; F (5,63) = 28.843, p < .001), demonstrating substantial explanatory power. Qualitative findings corroborated these results, characterizing hotel e-waste management as fragmented, reactive, and predominantly informal. The study concludes that individual operational practices alone are insufficient to achieve effective e-waste management. Strengthening recycling infrastructure, improving access to licensed recyclers, enhancing regulatory enforcement, building organizational capacity through targeted training, and providing economic incentives as well as hotels aligning their organizational sustainability policies and operational procedures with national regulatory requirements are necessary to promote systematic e-waste management and advance circular economy initiatives within the hospitality sector.

E-Waste, E-Waste Generation, E-Waste Management, Barriers, Naivasha Sub-County

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