{"id":52152,"date":"2022-08-30T13:34:45","date_gmt":"2022-08-30T13:34:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/?p=52152"},"modified":"2022-08-30T13:34:54","modified_gmt":"2022-08-30T13:34:54","slug":"recycling-is-not-enough-to-solve-the-plastic-crisis-greenpeace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/en\/press\/52152\/recycling-is-not-enough-to-solve-the-plastic-crisis-greenpeace\/","title":{"rendered":"Recycling is not enough to solve the plastic crisis: Greenpeace"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Nairobi, 30 August 2022- The  Kenya Plastics Pact has published a roadmap to ensure all plastic packaging in the country is recyclable or reusable by 2030<\/a>. The plan by the pact\u2019s business members and other supporters will ensure that 40% of plastic packaging is effectively recycled.<\/p>\n\n

Responding to this news, Greenpeace Africa\u2019s Communication and Story Manager, Hellen Dena has said:<\/p>\n\n

\u201cData shows we can’t recycle our way out of the plastics crisis. Recycling does not match the scale of the plastic that\u2019s being produced, which is one of the reasons why only 9% of all the plastic waste ever produced has been recycled<\/a>. With plastic production projected to increase in the coming years, Kenya will never be able to solve this crisis with only recycling. A good benchmark can be derived from high-income countries where even with huge investments in recycling and the best available technology, the recycling rate falls short of 50% with a minimal percentage of it converted back to packaging.<\/p>\n\n

\u201cWhile efforts by different stakeholders in reducing plastic pollution is critical and is a clear indication of a growing trend, it isn\u2019t enough to solve the cascade of plastic pollution in the country. The real culprits are the big polluters. As long as the companies responsible for this plastic crisis do not stop the massive production of this toxic substance, the urban landscape, the oceans and the ecosystem in general will continue to be threatened.<\/p>\n\n

\u201cKenya has been grappling with the impacts of single-use plastics for many years now. In most of the urban areas across the country, plastic waste is clogging the waterways leading to floods and destruction. Scientists have also found microplastics in the food we eat, the water we drink<\/a> and even in human blood<\/a>. While the overall effects are not yet known, microplastics are known to damage human cells; there are concerns they could affect immune functions.
\u201cTo truly tackle this crisis, we need to call on the biggest polluters and other stakeholders to step up and drive change by investing in alternative delivery channels and packaging that prioritise refill and reuse models. Any solution should contribute towards a plastic-free economy that ensures a fair and equitable transition for affected workers. The members of this Plastic Pact <\/a> should work towards achieving an effective legally-binding global plastics treaty to cap and reduce production, use and ultimately end single-use plastic pollution.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

Media Contacts:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

Greenpeace Africa Press Desk: pressdesk.africa@greenpeace.org<\/a><\/p>\n\n

Hellen\u00a0Kahaso Dena, <\/strong>
Communications and Story Manager,
hdena@greenpeace.org, +254 717 104 144<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The\u00a0Kenya Plastics Pact has published a roadmap to ensure all plastic packaging in the country is recyclable or reusable by 2030. The plan by the pact\u2019s business members and other supporters will ensure that 40% of plastic packaging is effectively recycled.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":52153,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"p4_og_title":"","p4_og_description":"","p4_og_image":"","p4_og_image_id":"","p4_seo_canonical_url":"","p4_campaign_name":"not set","p4_local_project":"not set","p4_basket_name":"not set","p4_department":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[32,33],"tags":[30,64],"p4-page-type":[14],"class_list":["post-52152","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-changemycommunity","category-protecttheenvironment","tag-plastics","tag-kenya","p4-page-type-press"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52152","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52152"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52152\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":52155,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52152\/revisions\/52155"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52153"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52152"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52152"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52152"},{"taxonomy":"p4-page-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/p4-page-type?post=52152"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}