KENYA Government proposes to buy old electronics from Kenyans as waste piles up

Kenyans will soon start receiving payment from government for their old computer, phones and other electronic items gathering dust in their homes.

The draft National E-waste Management Strategy 2019 proposes cash incentives for consumers as well as tax exemptions for companies that help collect and manage the waste.

In a report by The Standard, the government will require each of the 47 counties to have at least ten centres for collecting the waste and also establish recycling plants in the six economic zones across the country.

“The government will partner with private firms through Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) to build robust and sustainable infrastructure to facilitate an environmentally friendly e-waste management system and provide incentives for consumers to dispose of their electronic waste,” read the draft.

Also, the policy seeks to establish a nation e-waste fund that will be tasked with the responsibility of collecting money from companies that produce high waste which go to recycling.

According to the most recent 2010 report on e-waste by the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP), the country produces at least 17,000 tonnes of e-waste each year.

“Kenya generates 11,400 tonnes from refrigerators, 2,800 from TVs, 2,500 from personal computers, 500 from printers and 150 from mobile phones,” read the report.

The figure is estimated to have gone high following importation of cheap electronic items in the country such as phones and computers.

However, implementation of the plan will have to wait until medium-term, with the government set to establish e-waste factories in 2022 and the e-waste fund in 2023.

The Ministry of Environment and Forestry has scheduled a national validation workshop that will be held at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre in May to collect stakeholder views on the policy.