Salome Muiruri
The United Nations Environmental Assembly (UNEA) has committed to eradicating plastic pollution by approving a roadmap that will implement containment measures from the source. The agreement looks at tracking all plastics produced globally and their lifespan, thus enabling key players to play an active role in ending plastic pollution.
Apart from huge financing and monitoring for the eradication of plastics, UN members will develop a framework that will incentivise innovations for alternative packaging methods as a way of ensuring the reduction of plastic waste globally.
The framework will also create room for conversation on the rules and regulations of designing plastics.
The UN Environmental Programme showed its commitment to the process of eradicating plastics by pre-planning a forum before the end of 2022 in collaboration with the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) to lay down best practices and share the knowledge with the world around eradicating plastic pollution.
Reading President Uhuru Kenyatta’s speech on Wednesday, The Cabinet Secretary in charge of the Environment docket, Keriako Tobiko emphasised Kenya’s commitment to creating a cleaner environment, free of plastics. He however called upon the different governments to embrace the recommendations from the UNEA 5 convention in order to have a significant environmental shift.
Currently, Kenya, Tanzania and Rwanda have been on the frontline by banning the production and the use of single-use plastic. Kenya effected the ban on single-use plastics in 2017.
