There is a huge opportunity for jobs in the circular economy space in Kenya. This is according to Dr Ayub Macharia, Director in Charge of Environmental Enforcement, Ministry of Environment and Forestry.
According to him, approximately 2000 tons of organic waste are produced daily in Nairobi, and they end up in dumping sites, yet when upcycled, one ton of waste can employ eight people. Unfortunately, as he noted, circular economy is not practiced widely in Kenya.
“Circular economy is geared towards making sure that we don’t go back to the environment to extract resources, so that the resources that are already extracted, are retained in use for a longer period,” he said during the World Circular Economy Forum 2023 (WCEF2023), hosted by the African Circular Economy Network (ACEN) in Nairobi Kenya.
The World Circular Economy Forum (WCEF2023) is an annual event that takes place every year in different parts of the world. Last year it was hosted for the first time in Africa (in Kigali-Rwanda), and to allow broader participation, ACEN organized 5 Studios (parallel events connected to the Forum) across the entire African continent. ACEN currently has representatives in 42 countries, and Kenya played a host this year for a WCECF2023 Studio.
The World Circular Economy forum brought together global stakeholders from different organizations, including circular economy experts, universities, local and national governments, the European Union, the African Development Bank, the European Investment Bank, and local exhibitors, and they shared on how the good practices can be escalated far and wide.
“We expect further adoption of the interventions that are already proved as best practices so that we have more and more people adopting circular economy innovations to promote employment and become a source of livelihood for our people,” he stated
Dr Macharia emphasized that the country is on the right track citing the Green Economy Employment Programme Document launched in 2016 that has been guiding their interventions in waste management.
On waste management, Dr Macharia noted that they are emphasizing waste segregation at source to avoid contamination at source.
“When segregation is done at source, further sorting at the recovery facility becomes easier, and instead of getting virgin material, the recovered material is sold to the recyclers for use in making new products,” said Dr Macharia
Dr Macharia noted that they are developing standard producer responsibility regulations to make producers responsible for the material they release into the Kenyan market.
This was informed by the fact that some products whose material is unknown are imported into the country, yet the government doesn’t have the technologies to process them.
“That regulation will be out soon, and once it is out, we will be able to recover over 90% of the waste we have because, for organic waste, we already have the technologies to compost it,” he said, noting that organic waste is compost through black soldier flies and regular red worms to make manure.
The black soldier flies (Hermetia illucens) are a species of fly known for their ability to consume organic waste rapidly. During their larval stage, they can efficiently convert a wide range of organic materials into protein-rich biomass. This biomass, commonly called “frass,” is a valuable resource for various applications, including animal feed, biofuel production, and organic fertilizers.
According to Dr Macharia, Jomo Kenyatta University of Science and Technology is among the institutions growing the black soldier fly and collecting waste from Juja Market.
He expressed the need for the private sector to adopt insect farming, for that is one great way of getting rid of organic waste, for it will be utilized in producing protein for animal feeds and, at the same time, produce organic fertilizer that is not harmful to the soil.
“Insect farming is a lucrative investment space. 1 kg of dried black soldier flies costs 90 Kenya shillings, while 1 kg of its fertilizer costs 60 Kenya shillings. The government of Kenya is selling 150 kgs of synthetic fertilizer at 3000 Kenya shillings, while black soldier fly organic fertilizer, which is not harmful to the soil, also costs 3000 Kenya shillings,” he stated.
Zablon Wekesa, the Country Representative for the Africa Circular Economy Network (ACEN), the focal person for the Africa Circular Economy Foundation in Kenya, and a designer by training, noted that the East African Community needs to be supported and there is an opportunity to unlock knowledge and finance towards accelerating the circular economy or encouraging practices around the journey.
“We want to connect chapter conversations from Nairobi to Mombasa to those happening in Abuja. We will bring that conversation together to build solid platforms for this course and solutions.” He said
