News

Kenya is progressively reaching a fairly stable and economic situation and the country is at a critical turning point of its development. With this, the country faces an increased demand in the use of chemicals which in turn lead to the generation and release of unintentionally generated Persistent Organic Pollutants (UPOPs) especially due to open-air disposal of waste.

With support from the Global Environment Facility (GEF), the Green Belt Movement has partnered with among others, the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources, to implement a project aimed at mainstreaming chemical management and reduction of UPOPs in Kenya. Through this partnership, the project will provide technical management of waste by adopting a 3R approach – reduce, reuse and recycle as well as piloting alternative solutions for waste disposal.

Being a relatively new area, there is no specific legislation in Kenya aimed at reducing the release of UPOPs and there is therefore a need to ensure that developers and policy makers understand the linkages between chemicals and waste management in relation to development and poverty reduction.

In a just concluded two day workshop, the Green Belt Movement met with partner organizations to review awareness-creating materials to be used in sensitizing stakeholders and communities on waste management and minimization of UPOPs.