The Kenya Association of Manufacturers has launched a plan to sustainably manage plastic waste in the country dubbed as the Kenya Plastic Action Plan. The private sector-led Policy and Action Plan seeks to enable a circular economy for the environmentally sustainable use and recycling of plastics in Kenya.
The plan identifies specific actions that the public and private sector should undertake to achieve a circular economy. This includes waste management at the county level, formation and regulation of Extended Producer Responsibility schemes and establishment of recycling value chains and standards.
According to the Mininstry of Environment, the plan is to turn Kenya into a zero-waste society. As such Kenya Plastic Action Plan is an important first step towards this.
KAM Chair Sachen Gudka, had this to say, “The role of the manufacturing sector in the circular economy rests in sustainable waste management and Extended Producer Responsibility Schemes. A huge opportunity remains in the development of a waste management and recycling industry in Kenya that would contribute to the Big 4 Agenda. The Action Plan identifies the specific actions that the public and private sector should undertake to achieve a circular economy. Circular economy aims to eradicate waste not just from manufacturing processes, as lean management aspires to do, but systematically, throughout the life cycles and uses of products and their components. We visualize that the Plan will set the pace for the proper management of all other wastes in the country through proper disposal, segregation and recycling, hence promoting a circular economy.”