From mobile phones to children's toys, stationery to water bottles, including your favourite takeaway coffee cup, plastics surround us.
According to a recent research by the Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development, plastics are now even in human blood.
From mobile phones to children's toys, stationery to water bottles, including your favourite takeaway coffee cup, plastics surround us. Moreover, according to a recent research by the Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development, plastics are now even in human blood.
The raging debate on feeding bottles for babies just reinforces the omnipresence of plastics. It further reinforces the mixed feelings about plastic from producer of fossil fuels, manufacturers, policy makers and consumers.
Unep last month adopted with a unanimous decision by member States on the need to end plastic pollution. This was sealed with the historic resolution, titled ‘End Plastic Pollution: Towards an international legally binding instrument’.
With the resolution adopted, the world began a journey towards drafting a legally binding agreement/instrument to end plastic pollution by 2024.
With this resolution, individual States should now proactively take measures to not only reduce plastic pollution but also put together sound, legal and policy frameworks in readiness for a binding plastic pollution treaty in 2024.
Failure to do this will lead the world slipping into a dangerous path for human, animal and biodiversity.
At the country level, the historic resolution aside, Kenya has made significant strides with the ban on single-use plastic since 2017.
The ban is among the key milestones Kenya has achieved in reducing plastic within its borders.
According to the Ministry of Environment, Kenya has reduced single-use plastic bags by at least 80 percent. This is also evident from the quantity of single-use plastic in the environment — trees, water, and garbage sites.
However, despite scoring a goal in single-use plastic, the policymakers seem to be conceding a goal in Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET), which is popularly known as PET.
The PET, which is not banned in Kenya, has not only become problematic to aquatic life but to consumers who do not have the knowledge on recycling or reuse.
From soft drink, water to milk bottles, these now litter everywhere, especially in urban areas. However, there is an opportunity to develop alternative ways and means of packaging these consumer goods/products that are cost-friendly to the manufacturer and friendly to the environment.
It is almost five years ago, since the PET task force, which is a partnership between the Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM), the Ministry of Environment and Forestry (ME&F) and the National Environment Management Authority (Nema), was established.
According to this Action Plan by the Ministry of Environment and Forestry, it was hoped that through this task force, both the private sector and government would support each other in managing PET bottles waste.
There is an opportunity to refocus energy on other non-plastic materials that can replace PET.
The use of glass bottles that have been used in the past and are easier to recycle is one example.
