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Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) under Kenya’s 2022 Sustainable Waste Management Act promises shared responsibility by holding manufacturers accountable for financing and organising the management of waste arising from their products.
In theory, this is a huge step towards reducing plastic pollution and fostering accountability. In practice, there are risks of informal waste pickers who have been driving Kenya’s recycling system being left on the sidelines, unless they are intentionally integrated into the implementation of the EPR systems by producers, PROs, and county governments.
As EPR schemes take shape, counties retain the mandate over waste collection logistics, while Producer Responsibility Organisations (PROs) contract licensed waste service providers specifically to recover plastics and other waste linked to their member producers.
This creates a risk that well-capitalized companies may dominate these contracts, sidelining waste pickers unless deliberate safeguards are put in place.
The question of who should collect our recyclables circles back to the concept of justice in a circular economy. If a company, in its efforts to subscribe to the EPR regulations decides to set up buy-back centres or do house to house pickups without engaging the informal waste pickers, thousands of waste pickers risk losing their livelihoods, visibility and voice.
The company may meet its legal targets but at what cost?
In the hierarchy of Kenya’s Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) framework, Producer Responsibility Organizations (PROs) play a central role in the implementation of the regulations set forth under the 2024 EPR Regulation Law.
These PROs, which include organizations like KEPRO (Kenya Extended Producer Responsibility Organization) and PAKPRO (Packaging Producer Responsibility Organization), are responsible for coordinating the collection, recycling, and management of waste generated by producers.
They serve as intermediaries between manufacturers, waste management companies, and the government, ensuring that the targets set by the EPR are met efficiently and transparently.
Fortunately, both Kenya’s EPR Regulations (2024) and the Sustainable Waste Management Act (2022) provide entry points for a fairer transition, though their roles are distinct. The EPR Regulations require producer responsibility organizations (PROs) to work with licensed waste service providers to recover waste from their members’ products.
However, unless the regulations explicitly mandate the inclusion of informal waste pickers in these recovery processes, the promise of a just transition risks being reduced to rhetoric.
The Sustainable Waste Management Act on the other end envisions broader systemic change through county-level partnerships, sensitization grants, and the establishment of a National Waste Management Council tasked with shaping national waste policy. However, the list of stakeholders eligible for this Council still does not include waste pickers.
This means waste pickers will only be meaningfully involved if decision-makers choose to interpret and apply the law in an inclusive way, since the law itself does not guarantee their participation. Without concrete inclusion mechanisms in both instruments, the transition to a circular economy will remain inequitable.
Participation of waste pickers in Kenya’s EPR implementation can take several practical forms; Inclusion in county-level waste management advisory committees, representation on Producer Responsibility Organization (PRO) consultative structures, and even participation in the National Waste Management Council.
In addition, assigning reserved collection quotas to informal waste pickers and ensuring they have accessible platforms to express their priorities would help shape systems that respond to on-the-ground realities.
Transparency is also key: PROs should publish disaggregated data on waste recovered through informal channels, and companies should disclose what portion of their EPR contributions support informal workers.
County governments must take proactive steps to integrate EPR into their waste management systems. They should partner with PROs, ensure waste pickers are included in the recycling of non-toxic waste, and adopt policies that guarantee health and safety protections.
Investing in education, sensitization programs, and modern Material Recovery Facilities (MRFs) for easier waste collection, sorting, and recycling capabilities will not only boost efficiency but also create jobs and support a cleaner, more circular economy.
With this adoption, this would create a structured funding mechanism; channelling resources from producers directly into waste collection, sorting, and recycling systems.
This way, those who profit from production also invest in managing environmental impacts, ensuring waste pickers are not left behind. Instead, they are directly included in the scheme and positioned to receive better pay, tools, and recognition in a more inclusive, well-funded waste management system.
Extended Producer Responsibility should not be another mechanism that further marginalizes the informal waste pickers. It should recognize and remunerate the very labour that has long sustained Kenya’s waste management industry.
When waste pickers are brought in as partners, producers are still able to meet their legal targets at infact lower costs, counties cut cost on municipal clean ups and communities benefit from a cleaner toxic-free environment.
The waste pickers are able to maintain their livelihoods, but with more recognition, cleaner work conditions, sensible stream of pay and legal rights of operation. This is what a truly just system looks like.
The writer is a Journalist and Communications personnel at Centre for Environment Justice and Development (CEJAD)
