_____________________________________________________________________________________________________ *Corresponding author: E-mail: makqarix@yahoo.com; Current Journal of Applied Science and Technology 37(1): 1-11, 2019; Article no.CJAST.50559 ISSN: 2457-1024 (Past name: British Journal of Applied Science & Technology, Past ISSN: 2231-0843, NLM ID: 101664541) Characteristics of Waste Pickers in Nakuru and Thika Municipal Dumpsites in Kenya Joseph Maina Kariuki 1* , Margaret Bates 2 and Adiel Magana 1 1 Chuka University, Kenya. 2 University of Northampton, United Kingdom. Authors’ contributions This work was carried out in collaboration among all authors. Author JMK designed the study, performed the statistical analysis and wrote the first draft of the manuscript. Authors MB and AM supervised the entire research process, the design, the analysis and write-up. All the authors read and approved the manuscript. Article Information DOI: 10.9734/CJAST/2019/v37i130272 Editor(s): (1) Dr. Aleksey Aleksandrovich Hlopitskiy, Department of Technology Inorganic Substances, Ukrainian State University of Chemical Technology, Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine. Reviewers: (1) G. Poyyamoli, Pondicherry University, India. (2) Gina Rizpah Besen, Sao Paulo University, Brazil. Complete Peer review History: http://www.sdiarticle3.com/review-history/50559 Received 11 June 2019 Accepted 05 August 2019 Published 21 August 2019 ABSTRACT Dumpsite waste picking is prevalent in many developing countries of which Kenya is one. Waste pickers play an important role in waste recycling by recovering and providing materials to the waste recycling industry. Aim: The purpose of the study was to characterise the demographic and socio-economic factors of waste pickers in Nakuru and Thika municipal dumpsites. Study Design: The research design was a cross-sectional social survey and the sample size was 167. Place and Duration of Study: The study was carried out in the largest dumpsite in Nakuru and Thika towns found in Nakuru and Kiambu counties respectively. Methodology: The data was collected by use of structured questionnaire. The data was analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences. Analysis was by frequency tables, χ 2 test and t- test at 95% level of confidence. Results: The results show that there was parity by gender in Nakuru but in Thika the proportion of females was much higher than that of males. There was significant association between age and Original Research Article