The three-day forum, held from May 4 to 6, brought together stakeholders from over 20 counties, national agencies, producer responsibility organisations, and waste picker groups.<\/p>\n
Discussions focused on strengthening inclusive waste governance, with particular emphasis on integrating waste pickers into formal systems.<\/p>\n
The conference was officially opened by Principal Secretary for Environment and Climate Change Dr. Eng. Festus K. Ng\u2019eno<\/strong>, whose speech was delivered by Director of Waste Management and Pollution Control Molu Wato<\/b>.<\/p>\n In his remarks, Dr. Ng\u2019eno described plastic pollution as a growing public health, economic, and governance challenge.<\/p>\n \u201cPlastic pollution is not merely an environmental issue; it is a public health concern, an economic challenge, and a governance issue,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n He called for a transition towards a circular economy that prioritises reuse, recycling, and sustainable materials management.<\/p>\n The PS noted that while Kenya has established key frameworks such as the Sustainable Waste Management Act (2022) and Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) regulations, implementation remains a major gap.<\/p>\n He emphasised the need for counties to strengthen participatory governance by involving communities and informal actors.<\/p>\n \u201cWaste pickers are not peripheral actors. They are an important cog in our waste management ecosystem,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n CEJAD Executive Director Griffins Ochieng\u2019 said the conference was designed to bridge gaps between national policy and county-level implementation.<\/p>\n He noted that many counties still lack awareness of their obligations under existing waste management laws and EPR frameworks.<\/p>\n According to Ochieng\u2019, the forum also highlighted practical solutions such as waste segregation at source, zero-waste systems, and circular economy approaches.<\/p>\n Maria Jose Zapata, Research Director at ICLD, said the conference created a platform for shared learning between local governments and grassroots actors.<\/p>\n She noted that waste pickers play a central role in waste management but remain insufficiently integrated into decision-making and economic opportunities.<\/p>\n At the grassroots level, waste picker organisations called for urgent reforms to ensure their inclusion in formal systems.<\/p>\n Kenya National Waste Pickers Welfare Association Chairperson Gisora Nyambuti said the engagement with county officials marked a significant step forward.<\/p>\n He highlighted persistent challenges including lack of formal structures, limited access to payment systems, and disparities between urban and rural waste management.<\/p>\n Stakeholders agreed that inclusive waste governance will require stronger collaboration, full implementation of EPR frameworks, and deliberate efforts to recognise waste pickers as key actors in the system.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Njeri Irungu. The Centre for Environment Justice and Development (CEJAD) is leading renewed calls for inclusive and accountable…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5927,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33,132,108,153],"tags":[625,626,627],"class_list":["post-5926","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-county","category-environment","category-general-news","category-news","tag-cejad","tag-icld","tag-waste"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/thenewsroomhub.co.ke\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/DSC08302-scaled.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenewsroomhub.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5926","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenewsroomhub.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenewsroomhub.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsroomhub.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsroomhub.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5926"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsroomhub.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5926\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5931,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsroomhub.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5926\/revisions\/5931"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsroomhub.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5927"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenewsroomhub.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5926"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsroomhub.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5926"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsroomhub.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5926"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/thenewsroomhub.co.ke\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/DSC08356-300x200.jpg\")