Kenya has unveiled a new national platform to coordinate its transition to a circular plastics economy, a move expected to boost both domestic reforms and the region’s position in global environmental diplomacy.
- •The National Plastics Action Partnership (NPAP), launched by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, is designed as a multi-stakeholder “action hub” that will align ministries, counties, industry, civil society, innovators, and development partners behind a single plastics-reform roadmap.
- •It also strengthens Kenya’s negotiating clout ahead of a binding United Nations Global Plastics Treaty expected to shape global rules on plastic production, reuse systems, and recycling obligations.
- •Foreign Affairs Principal Secretary Dr Korir Sing’Oei said NPAP represents a long-term shift in Kenya’s economic and environmental strategy, away from the traditional “take–make–waste” model towards a system where plastics remain in circulation for productive use.
“This platform signals that Kenya is undertaking a strategic transformation of its plastics economy. NPAP gives us a concrete, evidence-backed roadmap that strengthens both our domestic interventions and our voice internationally,” Dr Sing’Oei said in an interview with The Kenyan Wall Street.
Kenya is among the African countries advocating an ambitious global plastics treaty with life-cycle controls. According to Dr Sing’Oei, NPAP strengthens Kenya’s negotiating leverage by grounding its diplomatic position in a structured, nationally owned plan.
“With NPAP, we go to negotiations not with general principles but with a structured national plan. It enhances our credibility and negotiating weight,” he said.
The partnership’s integration into the World Economic Forum’s Global Plastic Action Partnership (GPAP) links Kenya to a global network of 25 countries and provides access to analytical tools, modelling expertise, and evidence from new global studies.
Plastics governance across East Africa has long been characterised by fragmentation across environmental, trade, industrial and urban-management agencies. Dr Sing’Oei noted that Kenya is no exception and that NPAP offers the country’s first unified national coordination mechanism.
“NPAP brings everyone to one table (ministries, counties, private sector, waste pickers, investors and civil society). It fills longstanding coordination and data gaps that have held back systemic progress,” he said.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will leverage the platform to attract global financing, facilitate technology transfer, and strengthen Kenya’s trade diplomacy around circular manufacturing.
A major function of the hub is to increase transparency through consistent tracking of plastics flows, recycling volumes, recovery rates and investment mobilisation, data that investors and donors increasingly demand.
“Investors require clarity and accountability. NPAP creates the transparency needed for Kenya to mobilise climate and circular-economy finance,” Dr Sing’Oei said.
The Single-Use Plastics Bill
The launch comes as the East African Community accelerates regional harmonisation through the proposed EAC Single-Use Plastics (SUP) Bill. Developed by ALN Kenya and The Flipflopi Project, the Bill aims to introduce uniform prohibitions on unnecessary single-use plastics across all partner states.
East Africa is already considered a continental leader in plastics reform, with Rwanda, Kenya, Tanzania, Somalia and others having introduced national restrictions. However, uneven national rules have led to regulatory loopholes, cross-border waste flows and fragmented markets.
The EAC SUP Bill proposes a harmonised list of prohibited items, from microbeads and cutlery to certain food wrappers, along with extended producer responsibility (EPR) schemes, incentives for alternatives, and regionally aligned enforcement mechanisms.
If adopted, the Bill would create predictable conditions for manufacturers and recyclers while aligning East Africa with global frameworks such as the EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation and the forthcoming UN plastics treaty.
With global markets tightening import requirements on recycled-content materials and traceability, the NPAP framework creates new opportunities for Kenyan and regional manufacturers seeking to compete in green supply chains. The platform’s alignment with GPAP means Kenya will map plastic flows, model scenarios to 2040, and analyse economic and jobs impacts.
GPAP, represented at the launch, said Kenya’s partnership would serve as a regional “lighthouse” for East Africa.
“Our ambition is not only to manage plastic waste, but to redefine plastics as a driver of green, inclusive and competitive growth for Kenya and the region,” Clemence Schmid, GPAP's Partnership Director, said during the launch ceremony on Wednesday.
Circular-plastics systems are expected to create millions of jobs globally, in collection, sorting, recycling, refill and reuse systems, and alternative-material industries. In Kenya, waste pickers, youth and women stand to benefit from formalisation and integration into value chains.
“NPAP allows us to dignify and upscale the work of waste pickers and community recyclers. This is where green industrialisation meets social inclusion,” Dr Sing’Oei said, "“It gives us a stronger, more coherent voice in shaping global rules — not just for plastics but for sustainable industrialisation across Africa"
Kenya has already established itself as a continental reference point on plastics regulation through the 2017 carrier-bag ban, the 2020 prohibition of single-use plastics in protected areas, and laws on sustainable waste management and extended producer responsibility.
