National Environment Management Authority raises concern over delay in passing electronic waste laws

NAIROBI, KENYA: There are mounting calls for Parliament to urgently approve new regulations to guide the management of electronic waste as the volume of obsolete goods like mobile phones and computers skyrocket in the country.

The Electronic Waste Regulations (2013) have been before various parliamentary committees for the last several months including the Committee on Environment chaired by Amina Abdallah and the Committee on Delegated Legislation led by Baringo North MP William Cheptumo.

Now the National Environment Management Authority has appealed to the Committee to fasttrack the regulation to enable them deal with the mounting challenge of electronic waste, which pose grave threat to human and environmental health.

"The amount of e-waste generated in the country is very high. We need to have an appropriate regulatory framework to enable different actors deal with this waste. We request MPs to prioritise it," said NEMA's Senior Compliance and Enforcement Officer Immaculate Nasimiyu.

She added: "The issue of e-waste has acquired a new urgency with the ongoing broadcasting migration from analogue to digital platform which will generate a lot of e-waste in the near future."

Cheptumo told the Standard that they have summoned Cabinet secretary for Environment Prof. Judy Wakhungu to clarify a few sticking points in the Regulations before it is forwarded to the floor of the house for final approval.

"We appreciate the urgency of the matter and we are committed to disposing off the Regulations in the next few weeks once we have concluded the meeting with Prof. Wakhungu," he said.

The provisions in the regulations require manufacturers, importers and dealers of electronic goods in the country to foot the bill of recycling or refurbishing their products once they reach their end of life to protect human and environmental health.

Those who introduce new or used electronic goods such as mobile phones and computers into the country should also pay recycling fee, rather than leaving the burden to other people.The new regulations will be enforced by the Nema, which will register such producers of electronic goods operating in the country.