{"id":12192,"date":"2021-02-19T09:06:48","date_gmt":"2021-02-19T06:06:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/africasustainabilitymatters.com\/?p=12192"},"modified":"2026-01-11T05:31:25","modified_gmt":"2026-01-11T05:31:25","slug":"kenya-emerges-as-leader-on-plastic-pollution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/2021\/02\/19\/kenya-emerges-as-leader-on-plastic-pollution\/","title":{"rendered":"Kenya emerges as leader on plastic pollution"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Kenya is emerging as a leader in the fight against plastic pollution and is among the first countries in East Africa to limit single-use plastics and sign the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cleanseas.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Clean Seas initiative<\/a>&nbsp;to rid waterways of plastic waste.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Juliette Biao, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Regional Director for Africa lauded the country for banning plastic bottles, cups and cutlery in its national parks last year, a move that followed a country-wide prohibition on plastic bags.&nbsp; She also called the country\u2019s efforts to stem the flow of plastic into its waterways an important step in reducing marine litter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cKenya has invested heavily in both policies and law enforcement to win the fight against plastic pollution. The result of this investment is today boosting Kenya\u2019s environmental stewardship in Africa and the world,\u201d said Biao.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Her comments came during the virtual convening of the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.unep.org\/environmentassembly\/unea5\">fifth session of the&nbsp;<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.unep.org\/environmentassembly\/unea5\">UN Environment Assembly<\/a>, the planet\u2019s top environmental decision-making body. Every two years, the assembly unites the UN\u2019s 193 Member States, policy-makers, civil society, scientists and the private sector to take action on urgent environmental issues. The virtual session in February 2021 will be followed by an in-person meeting in Nairobi in 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Like many countries, Kenya has long struggled with plastic waste, which dots its Indian Ocean coast and often abounds in its lakes. In Mombasa, the country\u2019s second-largest city with some 2 million residents,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/unhabitat.org\/un-habitat-to-launch-the-waste-wise-cities-tool-to-improve-waste-management-systems-globally\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">3.7 kilos of plastic per capita leach into bodies of water annually<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Turning the tide<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Working closely with communities and in partnership with the private sector as well as UNEP, Kenya\u2019s national and devolved county-level governments are establishing a plastic waste management programme \u2013\u00a0one that could be scaled and replicated across the East African community and beyond. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.unep.org\/news-and-stories\/story\/kenya-emerges-leader-plastic-pollution\">Read more&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Kenya is emerging as a leader in the fight against plastic pollution and is among the first countries in East Africa to limit single-use plastics and sign the&nbsp;Clean Seas initiative&nbsp;to&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":12193,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[101],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12192","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12192","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12192"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12192\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12193"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12192"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12192"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12192"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}