Managing plastic waste requires fresh thinking and a holistic approach – Kenya
Posted on February 2, 2018 by DrRossH in Plastic Waste NewsIn Kenya, the industry’s proactive nature on PET waste management has been a game-changer.
Source: Managing plastic waste requires fresh thinking and a holistic approach
In Kenya the main concern regarding Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) and the environment is the pollution associated with plastic packaging. According to the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources, approximately 50 million plastic bottles are used annually.
Due to their non – biodegradable nature, plastics can stay in the environment long after they are disposed especially when shielded from direct sunlight either due to being buried in landfills, hidden in forests or under water.

How many people today grab a takeaway coffee cup from the local cafe to drink on the go? We don’t know, but the number must be enormous.. Most every one of the above have a plastic top that will last 100s of years. Some cafes still use plastic cups that last a similar time. Is 10 minutes of coffee worth 100s of years of trash?
These items can be seen littering our gutters and on our streets all over the place. If they were all cardboard, they would still be littered, but they would, at least, be gone in a short time.
They do not need to be made of plastic.
On the way home from the gym last week, a distance of about 1 km (1/2 mile), I counted the items of plastic litter on the curb as I walked. In that short distance I counted 63 pieces of plastic litter. Plastic drink bottles, bottle tops, candy wrappers, plastic film, polystyrene fragments etc. That seemed to be a lot to me. I guess it is a generational thing. Our parents would have been horrified to see that amount, whereas it seems to go unnoticed by our youth of today. In another 20 years how many pieces will there be on this stretch, -- 200? What will today’s youth think of that new amount then when they are older? Will their children be so readily accepting of a higher amount of litter?
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