Environment and Climate Change Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale has introduced a new nationwide waste management strategy that requires all households in Kenya to separate their waste into three color-coded bags. As part of the National Sustainable Waste Management Act 2022, households will receive green bags for organic waste, blue bags for dry recyclables, and red bags for hazardous materials. This initiative aims to make waste disposal and recycling more efficient and environmentally sustainable.
Waste collection trucks will be equipped with the same three types of bags to help keep waste streams separated as they transport items to Material Recovery Facilities (MRFs). At these facilities, materials will be sorted into two main categories: wet and dry waste, while hazardous red-bagged waste will go directly to incineration facilities. Each collection truck will also carry a NEMA-issued tracking document to ensure traceability and accountability from collection points to final disposal.
On industrial pollution, CS Duale disclosed that NEMA has identified 145 facilities along the Nairobi River basin that release untreated waste due to malfunctioning Effluent Treatment Plants (ETPs). This pollution has become a serious threat to the river’s ecosystem, and NEMA is taking steps to enforce environmental standards more rigorously across the region.
The government is also addressing waste generated from informal settlements, which is predominantly organic, with industrial waste making up less than 1% of the total. To manage this waste sustainably, Kenya is promoting the use of bio-digesters, which convert organic waste into biogas, offering a renewable energy source and reducing landfill use.
Kenya’s policy represents a critical shift from a traditional “use and dispose” economy to a circular economy, where waste is treated as a resource. By emphasizing recycling and reuse, Kenya aims to transform waste management into an economic opportunity, creating jobs and driving sustainable development through recycling initiatives.
Duale emphasized Kenya’s commitment to environmental progress today during The Africa Day meeting held on the sidelines of COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan. Alongside Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi and Cabinet Secretary for Foreign and Diaspora Affairs, Duale underscored Kenya’s leading role in sustainable development, setting a benchmark for other African nations in environmental policy.
