Here’s the surest way to win war on plastic waste
A plastic bags recycling plant in Mathare, a low income area in Nairobi pictured on March 7, 2017. PHOTO| FRANCIS NDERITU
What you need to know:
All the benefits plastics deliver to humanity can be reversed by the counter-effects of unsafe, uncontrolled and poorly managed disposal systems.
Plastic waste is impacting our lands, waters and marine life, as well as our food chain and the public health.
The solution, then, is to devise and develop ways and means to collect and segregate post-use plastic so that we can transform it from “waste” to “raw material of value”.
Many consider plastic one of the most revolutionary inventions of the past century, playing a significant part in the world economy and people’s daily lives. In fact, its invaluable traits such as versatility, cost, durability, weight and availability account for its worldwide popularity. As such, plastic is not a menace but a panacea to many of humanity’s challenges.
MULTIPLE TIMES
Nevertheless, the same characteristics that give plastics their versatility and durability have created their own challenges as they are non-degradable and as such can be a long-standing pollutant that poses a grave threat to the global environment. The issue, then, is not the use of plastics, but one of disposal — “plastic waste”.
All the benefits plastics deliver to humanity can be reversed by the counter-effects of unsafe, uncontrolled and poorly managed disposal systems. Plastic waste is impacting our lands, waters and marine life, as well as our food chain and the public health — a matter of grave international and local concern.
The solution, many around the world have come to see, lies in the problem itself — the versatility and durability of plastic also means that plastic can be re-used and recycled multiple times without losing its core characteristics.
If the waste is properly collected and segregated, there is a massive opportunity to create new plastics and new applications for the plastics. There is still life and value in plastic waste. Re-cycled plastics are used globally in as varied applications as making floor and roof tiles, fencing posts, as an additive in tarmac and even to make diesel.
LIFE CYCLE
The solution, then, is to devise and develop ways and means to collect and segregate post-use plastic so that we can transform it from “waste” to “raw material of value”. This is a core principal of the new concept of a “circular economy” where the useful life and economic benefit of materials and resources are designed to go beyond a single life cycle and continue to give value.
A circular economy seeks to both reduce the consumption of resources and generate new jobs and economic opportunities by creating an entire new industry of recycling by leveraging the latest innovations, scientific advances and best practices to build prosperity while conserving our environment and resources for future generations.
It has become clear that collaboration is needed in tackling plastic waste, to accelerate the transition toward a circular economy and to recover plastic economic value. Collaboration not just in production and manufacturing of these products, but more importantly, in setting up mechanisms and systems that facilitate their recovery, reuse, recycling and end-of-life management as well.
Canada, Germany, the United Kingdom and countries in Europe are already making headway on this front. These economic giants have made commitments toward a resource-efficient life cycle management approach to plastics in the economy.
ACTION PLAN
Closer home, similar collaborative strategies are being made by the private sector in collaboration with government. In 2018, KAM and other private sector players facilitated the launch of PetCo, Kenya's first Extended Producer Responsibility Scheme charged with developing and expanding a recycling value-chain for PET bottles and materials. KAM and its member companies have also endorsed the Oceans Plastics Charter as a framework for public-private and global approaches to dealing with plastic waste.
In January, key players in the plastic value chain initiated a new platform, the Kenya Plastics Action Plan; a private sector-led policy and action plan aimed at enabling a circular economy for environmentally sustainable use and recycling of plastics in Kenya. The plan aims to propose a road map to a circular economy for plastics use and waste management in Kenya and identify the specific actions that the public and private sector should undertake to achieve this.
The writer is the vice chairman and PET sub-sector chair at Kenya Association of Manufacturers; [email protected]
