This report commissioned by the Danish Environmental Protection Agency estimates the quantity of plastic packaging waste generated in Kenya each year, it is also available on their website here.
The study makes estimates based on the consumption of plastic packaging using national statistics for manufacturing, trade and production. As plastic has a short life-cycle, it is generally accepted that annual consumption is equal to annual waste generation. This figure was then compared with plastic packaging consumption figures from South Africa. Furthermore, the volumes of plastic packaging waste recycled in Kenya were estimated on the basis of questionnaire responses from Kenya companies engaged in recycling of plastic packaging waste.
The key challenge during this project related to accessing the necessary data to estimate the consumption of plastic packaging. National statistics available to the research team utilised high-level categories and were not granular enough to specify plastic packaging. In practice, assumptions therefore had to be made and applied to the statistical data available to estimate plastic packaging consumption.
