Kenya circular economy strategy launch scheduled for 3 November; draft targets 30% plastic recycling by 2032

Kenya's Ministry of Environment, Climate Change and Forestry scheduled the launch of the National Circular Economy Strategy and Implementation Plan (CESIP) 2027–2032 for 3 November at the Argyle Grand Hotel in Nairobi, according to a notice posted on its website on 28 October. The event was set to start at 8:30 a.m. under the theme "Transforming Waste into Wealth for a Sustainable, Resource-Efficient and Prosperous Kenya". The notice was no longer on the ministry's website on 29 October.

The notice said the strategy is meant to move Kenya away from an economy in which resources are extracted, used and discarded, towards one that "prioritises waste prevention, reuse, repair, recycling and the recovery of valuable resources from waste". It names plastics, organic waste, electronic waste, textiles and other recyclable materials as the focus, along with waste segregation at source, collection and recycling systems, sustainable product design and circular business models. Delivery needs coordinated action from national and county governments, the private sector, manufacturers and investors, it said.

The ministry's website also carries a draft of the strategy, dated October and listed under a call for public participation. The draft says the ministry commissioned it and that the Kenya Private Sector Alliance (KEPSA) and the consultancy Intellecap wrote it, working with the EU Circular Economy Resource Centre and the Danish Energy Agency. The Cabinet Secretary's foreword is still to be added.

According to the draft, the strategy runs for five years, 2028 to 2032, with 2027 a preparatory year for validation, adoption and setting up a coordination mechanism. It covers five sectors: agriculture and food systems (organic waste), plastics and packaging, electrical and electronic equipment (e-waste), textiles and apparel, and mining, quarrying and construction.

The draft sets 13 national headline targets. Kenya's plastics recycling rate is about 9% (2024), with a target of 20% in 2030 and 30% in 2032. E-waste formally collected and recycled was under 5% in 2025; the targets are 15% and 25%. About 5% of municipal waste generators separate their waste at source, against targets of 15% and 30%. The draft classes these three as provisional, to be confirmed by baseline studies in 2028.

The draft puts Kenya's plastic waste at approximately 680,000 tonnes generated in 2024, about 37% of it collected, mostly in urban areas, citing preliminary July figures from the Kenya National Plastics Action Partnership. Citing Kenya National Bureau of Statistics figures, it says e-waste generated rose to 55,956 tonnes in 2025 from 48,461 tonnes in 2021, and that over 90% of it is handled informally. It estimates Kenya generates 8 million to 8.8 million tonnes of solid waste a year, of which more than 75% is mismanaged.

The draft puts the total indicative cost of implementation over 2028–2032 at about KSh 35.5 billion (about US$273 million) at constant 2026 prices. KSh 4.8 billion of that falls in 2028–2029 and KSh 30.7 billion in 2030–2032. Agriculture and food systems account for KSh 13.4 billion and plastics and packaging for KSh 10.5 billion, together two-thirds of the total; e-waste is put at KSh 1.9 billion.

On governance, the draft says the Sustainable Waste Management Act, 2022 provides for a Waste Management Council, but "the Council is not yet operational". It proposes to make the council the anchor of the strategy's governance, supported by a secretariat and five sector technical working groups, with reviews in 2030 and 2032. Waste management is a county function, and the draft says about 23 of Kenya's 47 counties have standalone waste legislation.

According to the draft's timeline, the first version went to the National Steering Committee on 4 September, and the strategy was pre-launched at the Annual Circular Economy Conference on 30 September. A second draft went to county public consultations in Kisumu on 6 October, Nakuru on 8 October, Mombasa on 13 October and Eldoret on 16 October.

After the launch, the draft says, the first meeting of the National Circular Economy Coordination Platform will be convened, and a 90-day start-up plan will guide the assignment of institutional ownership and the activation of priority interventions.