The Kenyan parliament has passed the Kenya Separate Waste Collection Act, and if President Kenyatta puts his signature to it in the coming days, citizens and homeowners will have to separate their waste following rules that already belong to many Western countries but still very few African nations.
As a priority, the new law will aim to make citizens separate organic waste from recyclable waste at the time of disposal and before collection by public or private entities.
Kenyans who fail to comply with separate collection will be able to pay fines of up to 20 thousand shillings in the case of non-compliance with the new law.
Speaking at a symposium organized by the Embassy of Japan in Kenya, Dr. Ayub Macharia, director of Environmental Education and Awareness, said the transition from a linear to a circular economy will be a game changer for waste management in the country.
"The linear waste management model was a problem because until now we mixed all forms of waste," Macharia said, "making it difficult to separate them for recycling. It is also the reason for the many landfills that are popping up even in residential areas. The same landfills affect the climate because they produce greenhouse gases."
County governments will be required to license and regulate private waste collectors, as stipulated in the bill.
However, Macharia himself admitted that many counties are not yet ready to change the system of waste collection and disposal and that it will take time.
The secretary general of the Waste Recyclers Association of Kenya, Richard Kainika, also confirmed that to maximize value extraction from waste, consumers will first need to be educated on how to separate waste.