- The parties have committed to improve awareness by increased educational activities among the Kenyan public on issues related to segregation and collection.
- This by bringing together a network of producers, collectors, suppliers and other key stakeholders to develop circularity of LBP.
Image: ANDREW KASUKU
Collection and recycling of waste materials in Kenya has received a boost following a partnership between Tetra Pak East Africa and the Packaging Producer Responsibility Organisation (PAKPRO).
The deal between the food packaging and processing company and the organisation comes amid the need for greater collaboration to improve the collection and recycling of Liquid Board Packaging (LBP).
It is also gives a push to the recent sustainable waste management drive following the gazettement of the Sustainable Waste Management Act, 2022.
The parties have committed to improve awareness by increased educational activities among the Kenyan public on segregation and collection through a network of producers, collectors, suppliers and other key stakeholders to deal with LBP in the country.
The scheme further seeks to implement a model for value chain support to stimulate collection and increase end-use demand for recycled content.
"There is already existing recycling capacity and infrastructure in the country that has been developed over the years, and the intended model will seek to maximise use of this," said Jonathan Kinisu, the managing director Tetra Pak East Africa.
Kinisu said recycling is at the centre of a low-carbon circular economy that aims to reduce waste and keep materials in use for longer.
"Therefore, LBP can be recycled and transformed into a wide range of new products. However, segregation at source, collection and sorting are critical for recycling to work."
Waste management has been a major challenge in Kenya according to United Nations framework convention on climate change.
"The public sector struggles to run an effective and efficient waste management system. Private sector waste collection companies only collect waste to dispose it at poorly managed dump sites," UN says.
Consequently, the lobby notes that waste management becomes so expensive that about 66 per cent of Nairobi’s inhabitants, almost two and half million people cannot afford it.
Packaging Producer Responsibility Organisation CEO Joyce Gachugi said the pact is essential in increasing and synchronising the collection and recycling of liquid board packaging.
"We are keen to ensure that more than just compliance is met for Tetra Pak, but that they too can participate in scaling the impact we have developed over the last five years," Gachugi said.
She said the project would create decent jobs for waste collectors and divert post-consumer packaging from the landfills and dumpsites into the production of new materials.
Tetra Pak reiterates to have been engaging stakeholders, including the government, PROs, collectors and recyclers, in efforts to support the development of a strong ecosystem for collection and recycling of carton packages.
PAKPRO on the other hand has further plans to administer an Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) scheme to cater for the LBP sector from next month.
This will be an addition to the other EPR schemes already being offered by the organisation.