Abstract: Urban solid waste management has emerged as a major environmental and logistical challenge in rapidly urbanizing coastal cities of Sub-Saharan Africa. Existing waste collection practices based on static schedules and manual supervision are increasingly unable to cope with rising waste generation, resulting in bin overflow, environmental degradation, and public health risks. This study investigates the feasibility of, and identifies key design requirements for, an IoT-based waste collection framework to optimize waste collection processes in Mombasa County, Kenya. Mombasa City, a developing coastal urban centre, has approximately 1.3–1.6 million residents and generates an estimated 2,200 tonnes of solid waste daily. A quantitative descriptive research approach was adopted using structured questionnaires administered to 220 purposively selected respondents: 120 residents and 100 technical staff from three geographic zones. Findings reveal challenges: 68.3% of residents experience regular or frequent bin overflows, while 62.5% receive collection fewer than twice per week. Additionally, 53% of organizations lack formal waste management systems, 67% lack real-time monitoring, and 70% of technical staff are unprepared or uncertain about IoT readiness. The study proposes an IoT architecture integrating ultrasonic sensors, GPS tracking, LoRaWAN or NB-IoT communication, and A* route optimization supported by a hybrid edge–cloud platform, offering a replicable model for East African urban contexts.