Kenya needs a proactive approach on plastics
Mucai Kunyiha
Many predicaments in life can seem insurmountable, until human creativity and non-conventional approaches are applied.
In Bijapur, India, citizens can trade in four plastic bottles for one cup of tea. In Italy, Ecuador, Turkey and Indonesia, one can get bus tickets and free transport for trading in plastic bottles.
A casual apparel chain in Tokyo has announced a partnership with a top factory to produce clothing made from recycled plastic bottles next year.
Plastic waste in the environment has led communities and countries around the world to look for practical, creative and easily-applicable avenues to manage it.
Managment company, McKinsey says, plastic waste will grow to about 460 million tonnes per year by 2030, if demand for plastics continues to grow by its current trajectory.
Global consortiums and alliances are alive to this fact, and, in response, have started taking concerted steps towards progressively creating value for plastic waste, thereby reducing pollution, and kick-starting a circular economy.
To date, over 400 signatories including global manufacturing companies such as L’Oreal, Unilever and Nestle have signed the New Plastics Economy Global Commitment mooted in October 2018 by the UN Environment and Ellen MacArthur Foundation.
The commitment binds companies and governments to changing how they produce, use and reuse plastics. It ensures forethought and futuristic innovations that will ensure plastics stay in the economy and out of the environment.
In appreciating we are part of this global economy, Kenya is making its own steps towards a lasting solution to waste management albeit in a somewhat fragmented way.
Some initiatives include Customer Bora Initiative, run by young people in collaboration with Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM), in Nairobi. They incentivise customers to trade in plastic bottles for food items.
There’s also the Project Shule initiative, driving proper disposal awareness in schools around the country to start inculcating value of waste in young minds.
However, it is critical to contextualise our efforts within the global discourse and trajectory on the circular economy and institute a tangible road map towards it.
In January 2019, manufacturers and stakeholders in the plastic sector value chain initiated the Kenya Plastics Action Plan.
The plan aims to ensure environmentally sustainable use and recycling of plastics by applying the principles of a circular economy.
The plan has identified specific actions public and private sector need to take to realise a clean and safe environment for all.
The industry calls for the country to pursue a circular economy as a core element in development approaches.
It is paramount national and county governments focus on incentivising industry players to participate in such initiatives, including by predictable enforcement of policies that promote regulation of plastic value chain and encourage innovations and investments in the recycling industry.
So far, we have seen a progressive move in the 2019 Finance Act to exempt from VAT all services offered to plastic recycling plants and supply of machinery and equipment used in the construction of these plants; as well as lowering corporation tax for the first five years to 15 per cent for investors operating a plastic recycling plant.
This is quite encouraging, as it signals to a synergy towards the achievement of our economic goals.
As I said in the beginning, some mountains may seem impossible to climb, especially if we try to do it in isolation.
We can overcome them by acknowledging that to get to the peak we all have a significant role to play, and we leverage each other’s strengths, ideas and more importantly our shared vision for the country, to achieve our objective of a clean and sustainable environment for future generations. — The writer is the Vice Chairman of the Kenya Association of Manufacturers. He can be reached on [email protected].
