Stepping Up Action on Fighting Ocean Plastics Waste on World Cleanup Day

On Saturday, 15 September 2018, the World marked World Cleanup Day. The day is marked as a global social action program aimed at combating the global solid waste problem, including the problem of marine debris. In Kenya, the day was marked alongside the International Coastal Cleanup (ICC) which has been held consistently for the past 30 years with the common goal of collecting and documenting the trash littering their coastline. The ICC has grown over the 30 years and more than 100 countries come together each year and participate in a Cleanup event near them globally on the same day.

This year, PETCO Kenya, which is Kenya’s first extended producer responsibility organization (EPR), was a sponsor and collaborating partner in The International Coastal Cleanup and a participant at the World Cleanup Day. The event was launched at the Mama Ngina Drive in Mombasa county by the Chief Administrative secretary and was officiated by the Deputy Governor of Mombasa county Dr. Kingi. Others present included the Director General NEMA Prof. Geoffrey Wahungu, UN Habitat Secretary General Ms. Maimuna Mohd Sharif, UNEP Kenya Co-ordinator Mr. Siddharth Chatterjee,  and the Kenya Wildlife Service.

Kenya’s ambitious target at this year’s event was to recycle all the recyclables such as PET bottles, fishing nets, metals, glass, which were collected along the Kenya coast. PETCO was able to partner with beach management units, through the Kenya Wildlife Service by donating 1 tonne polypropylene sacks, which will henceforth be used as strategic waste collection points on beaches. The PETCO Kenya, country manager Ms. Joyce Gachugi-Waweru, while handing over the sacks reiterated that this partnership with KWS would be ongoing, in an effort to ensure that PET bottles are collected in enclosed sacks, to avoid them being scattered.

She also stated that it would be easier for the beach management units to collect more volumes of the PET volumes. One of PETCO’s objectives is to provide the needed assistance to waste collectors such as the beach management unit at Pirates Beach. They are also keen to provide balers to collectors who they pre-screen to allow them the opportunity to compact these PET bottles prior to them going to the recyclers. This allows them to move significantly larger volumes allowing them to improve efficiency in their operations.

The International Coastal Cleanup is of importance to PETCO as an industry body, as it resonates with its objectives of reducing flows of plastic with a specific focus on PET bottles to oceans and dumpsites (both legal and illegal). The solutions to ocean plastics crisis are most likely to be found on the mainland, thousands of kilometers away from the oceans by going right back to the beginning and rethinking how we make, use and recycle plastics and more specifically for us the PET bottles.

The clean-up is a testament to Kenya’s commitment to protecting its ocean in an effort to both conserve and develop its blue economy. As a participant in the upcoming Blue Economy Conference, PETCO is committed to pursuing this strategic objective of reducing the flow of plastics into the oceans.