Poor states cannot cope with high volumes of imported plastic waste

A section of River Nadarugu clogged by plastic bottles near Lake Nakuru National Park in Nakuru on June 5, 2021. [Kipsang Joseph, Standard]

The waste management sector contributes significantly to the triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity, nature loss and pollution.

As plastic production increases, plastic waste is also expected to skyrocket. Estimates show that the world will produce about 26 billion tonnes of plastic waste by 2050. With the current technology, countries cannot manage this level of waste generation sustainably. Secondly, without global policies to reduce plastic production, there will continue to be an unequal exchange of plastic waste from high-income countries to non-high-income countries.