• Under the new policy, waste will be segregated at source before service providers move them to materials recovery facilities.
•Five per cent will be incinerated, 30 per cent recycled and 60 per cent will be turned into manure.
You could soon be fined up to Sh4 million or spend a maximum of four years in jail for polluting if a new waste management policy is adopted.
The National Sustainable Waste Management Bill, 2018, aims at cutting down waste by 95 per cent.
Stakeholders on Friday held a national validation meeting on the bill and an e-waste strategy at the KICC. The bill will be revised based on recommendations, moving it closer to implementation.
Environment CS Keriako Tobiko said the waste management policy, bill and strategy are guided by the circular economy.
“This is a principle which is a radical departure from the current practice where nobody wants to touch waste once generated but is transferred to dumpsites," Tobiko said in a speech read on his behalf by Environment PS Ibrahim Mohammed.
Tobiko said under a circular economy dispensation, every citizen, corporate, county government and national government has a role to play.
Under the new policy, waste will be segregated at source before service providers move them to materials recovery facilities where sorting, selling and treatment are done.
Five per cent of the waste will be incinerated, 30 per cent recycled, while 60 per cent will be turned into manure. Only five per cent will go to landfills.
The move will create jobs along the waste management chain.
Currently, waste generated goes directly to the dumpsite, a move created massive dumpsite across the country.
“We have plans to reduce the 200 trucks going to Dandora dumpsite to 10,” Ayub Macharia, the director for environmental education and awareness at the Environment Ministry said.
Macharia said counties will be assisted to develop infrastructure.
“Waste management regulations will be reviewed to align them to this policy,” Macharia said.
To further cut the waste generated, Macharia said, the national government will develop regulations on the use of eco-friendly raw materials and cleaner production technologies.
Regulations and standards for central collection systems, storage and reuse will also be developed.
Macharia said all laws, regulations will be reviewed for waste to be reclassified as unsegregated and recyclable.
(Edited by O. Owino)