plastic waste management Archives

Government Endorses Elimination of Problematic Plastics by the Kenya Plastics Pact

15Nov

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Kenya News

Government Endorses Elimination of Problematic Plastics by the Kenya Plastics Pact

The Kenya Plastics Pact has published a list of problematic and unnecessary plastic items to be eliminated in Kenya. This adds to the already existing Government’s plastic bag ban that came into force in 2017, and the ban on selected single-use plastic items in protected areas since June 2020. The priority list supports a collective plan to meet the target of phasing out problematic and unnecessary plastic items by 2030 and has been endorsed by the Government through the Ministry of Environment and Forestry, and thirty-nine Kenya Plastics Pact business members and supporters. The priority list is disaggregated into plastic packaging items, non-packaging plastic items, and additives. The plastic packaging items listed include all polystyrene (PS) packaging, polyvinyl chloride (PVC) rigid p...

7Oct

By Josephine WawiraNo Comments

African News, Kenya News

Kenya Plastics Pact launches to tackle plastics waste in the country

An ambitious, new collaborative initiative to tackle plastics waste and pollution has today launched in Kenya. The Kenya Plastics Pact (KPP) will bring together stakeholders across the plastics value chain to create a circular economy for plastics. The Pact brings together businesses, governments, researchers, NGOs, civil society, informal waste sector players, and other stakeholders across the whole plastics value chain, to set time-bound commitments to transform the current linear plastics system into a circular plastics economy. Plastics waste and pollution have captured the attention of businesses, governments, and citizens in Kenya. Today, published data shows that only 8% of plastic is recycled, with the remainder being landfilled or incinerated – or in the worst-case scenario, endi...

22Sep

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Business

Ceres invests in a sustainable future by contributing to plastic waste reduction efforts

Johannesburg – Today, Ceres Fruit Juices announced the introduction of an initiative aimed at reducing plastic waste and has invited Craig Foster, award winning producer of the documentary: My Octopus Teacher, to participate in a roundtable highlighting the impact of plastic waste on the marine environment. Plastic waste management is a growing concern across the globe, with plastic drinking straws identified as a major contributor to this problem. Martin Neethling, PepsiCo Sub-Saharan Africa Chief Marketing Officer explains, “A major challenge with plastic straws is that they are too lightweight to make it through the mechanical recycling sorter and therefore difficult to recycle. The only way to tackle this problem is to move away from plastic straws altogether. Hence Ceres’ introducti...

4Apr

By Josephine WawiraNo Comments

Business, Kenya News, Main

Why a Plastics Pact is recipe for better environmental management practices

The year is 2016, outside a busy supermarket in one of Nairobi’s estates. Shoppers flow in and out carrying their groceries and other shopping items with plastic carrier bags. These are the order of the day, but their pollution to the environment is devastating. A year later in 2017, the Kenyan government would enact the ban on production, sale and use of plastics carrier bags. The ban is considered one of the sternest in the world and whose success rate is now recorded at approximately 80%. Fast forward to 2021, we have made tremendous strides in the fight against plastic pollution as a nation, with a ban on specific single use plastics in all protected areas taking effect from June 2020. There are also ongoing and ambitious plastics initiatives in the country, such as the Kenya Plastic A...