Policy Brief No. 15 of 2022-2023 on Embracing Plastic Circularity as an Alternative Policy to the Ban on Single use of Plastics

Abstract

Plastic products are by nature universal, light, cheap, and prone to indiscriminate disposal after use. The single use of plastics and improper disposal mechanisms lead to increased plastics pollution, which is a challenge to waste management. Plastics take longer to degrade and decompose and that means they keep accumulating in the environment. Other plastics that contain chemicals leak into the soil, thus degrading its value. Countries around the world are shifting from the traditional disposal of solid waste in landfill to a more sustainable waste management model. This sustainable solution involves the paradigm shift from taking the raw materials from the environment, making the product, using, and final disposal to a more closed-loop circularity model where a product is used repeatedly. Kenya banned the use of plastics (polythene) in 2017 and, subsequently, this was extended to other plastic products (polyethylene terephthalate) bottles in 2019 vide Gazette Notice 4858 in Karura forest, the National reserves, and Game parks to protect the environment and conserve nature. The ban was supposed to solve this problem and at the same time ensure adherence to the constitutional requirement of providing a clean and safe environment to Kenyans as obligated by Article 69.