Following a ban on plastic bags, consumers now bring along their kiondos when shopping. FILE PHOTO | NMG
Waste is a paradox. It can be unsightly, it can cause disease, it can harm ecosystem and it can drive away business. At the same time, waste is a valuable resource which can be the basis of entire industries, producing products for the market and generating much needed jobs. What makes the difference in this paradox is how the waste is positioned by those who produce it, those who oversee its disposal and everyone in between.
In Kenya, a lot of work has been going on in the waste management space for many years. In the last decade or so, there has been greater focus on plastic waste largely because of their devastating effects on the environment owing to their inability to biodegrade and their toxicity on the soil. A typical plastic can live on in the oceans or in the soil for hundreds of years causing silent damage to both aquatic and terrestrial life.
This is why in August 2017, Kenya’s President, Uhuru Kenyatta, announced a ban on plastic carrier bags, which had been famous for their ubiquity. They dotted tree canopies all over Kenya, showing up like flowers except they were not. They could be found in the stomachs of livestock, turtles and other sea animals entangled themselves with them and they blocked drainage systems in urban areas leading to flooding.
The ban, though not without its challenges, is a success story. Supermarkets and other retailers stopped issuing plastic carrier bags even before the law came into force and shoppers are now more open to bringing along their kiondos during their shopping adventures.
It is now possible to drive from Nairobi to Maasai Mara National Park without spotting a single plastic carrier bag hanging on a tree. Slaughter houses are also reporting fewer encounters with plastic in the belly of slaughtered animals.
It is notable that the ban was specific to plastic carrier bags which mean that lots of categories of plastic bags are still in use and, without proper take back or disposal systems, they are damaging to the ecosystem. Only about 27 percent of plastic waste generated in Kenya is collected out of which 8 percent is collected for recycling and the remaining 19percent disposed in landfills.
On World Environment Day 2020, another directive, which brought much hope to green campaigners, came out of the Kenyan nation. President Kenyatta announced the ban of certain categories of single use plastic in all protected areas such as gazetted forests, national parks and game reserves, marine parks and wildlife sanctuaries.
What this means is that local and foreign tourists and the hospitality industry in general must ensure that water, beverages and foods are not packed in, or consumed with, single use plastic.
The banned categories of single use plastic include PET bottles and bottle tops, plastic straws, disposable plates, cups, spoons and forks and plastic wrappers, among other items. The ban was informed by a desire to rid protected areas of plastic waste, which endanger wildlife, and to promote sustainable tourism.
These concerted efforts gave way to the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) regulations, which once implemented will ensure that no product is out there as an ‘orphan.’ If it is out there, it must have been produced by someone and that someone must be responsible for it till it is safely taken back to them or disposed of according to the law.
The EPR legal framework requires producers (and users = businesses that e.g. packaging for their product) to be responsible for what they produce throughout their products’ life cycle. Although its custodian is the Ministry of Environment and Forestry on behalf of the government of Kenya, it is premised on the need for business to be responsible, innovative and to continually seek to improve itself.
The regulations are at the penultimate stage before they take effect. At a recent webinar organised by the Ministry in collaboration with Sustainable Inclusive Business and Kenya Private Sector Alliance, businesses responsible for 19 product streams were taken through the regulations, what it means for their businesses and what they need to comply with.
The next stage is the setting up of Producer Responsibility Organisations (PROs), which are membership organisations that shall assume legal obligation for implementation of EPR on behalf of its members in a Collective compliance scheme.
EPR is not designed to punish the private sector. Rather, it is designed to spur innovation in product designs and product packaging. It is also designed to deliver an environment where everyone – humans and the entire ecosystem, thrives.
What the Kenyan government is doing is inviting business to partner with it in creating an environment where business thrives, not just today and tomorrow but forever.
It is a fact that consumers may not know exactly what to do with mobile phones, cookers, fridges, washing machines, PET bottles, plastic straws, among a host of other items, which they no longer use.
The government, too, may lack the expertise to put these items back to use because it is not in the business of doing business. Both the people and local authorities can separate items at source and return them to the respective producers or deliver them to designated locations from where producers can pick them.
Producers are expected to take back these items, not for disposal but for remanufacturing, refurbishing and recycling either by themselves or through third parties.
After all, natural resources, from which these items are produced, are not infinite. It is therefore important to design items in such a way that the various parts can easily be put back to use in the making of similar or other items over and over. It is what we call circular economy.
No comments :
Post a Comment