Join leading pollution experts from around the world for a conversation on the challenges of protecting the world’s marine environment from plastics.
Learn more: https://www.wri.org/events/2019/07/greening-governance-seminar-series-plastics-polluting-ocean
Part of WRI's Greening Governance seminar series.
2. IOM 2015
SPEAKER BIOS
Carole Excell
Acting Director, Environmental Democracy Practice, World Resources Institute
Carole Excell is the Acting Director of World Resources Institute's Environmental Democracy Practice and the
Project Director for The Access Initiative, working on access to information, public participation and access to
justice issues around the world. Carole Excell is an Attorney-at-law with a LLB from the University of the West
Indies and Certificate of Legal Education from the Norman Manley Law School, Mona. She has a Masters
Degree in Environmental Law from the University of Aberdeen in Scotland. She has seven years working
experience working for the Government of Jamaica on environmental and planning issues both at the Natural
Resources Conservation Authority and then at its successor the National Environment and Planning Agency.
Hugo-Maria Schally
Head of Unit for Multilateral Environmental Cooperation, Directorate General for the Environment,
European Commission
Mr. Hugo-Maria Schally is Head of the International Agreements and Trade Unit at the European
Commission’s Directorate-General for Environment and former head of the Relations with the United Nations
System, Member States and other OECD Donors Unit. Furthermore, he was deputy director of the
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (Vienna) and has worked for the Austrian Ministry for
Foreign Affairs. His work area covers development policy and sustainable development. And Multilateral
Environmental agreements, processes and trade issues. He hold a Master Environment and Diplomacy at the
University of Graz.
3. IOM 2015
SPEAKER BIOS
Andrea A. Jacobs
Attorney, Antigua and Barbuda
Andrea A. Jacobs is an Attorney-at-law specializing in environment, urban planning and development, and
energy law. She is Chair of the Development Control Authority Tribunal in Antigua and Barbuda. She is also a
Climate Change Negotiator for the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) and a women’s empowerment
lecturer. She was appointed to the Germany-based Commission on Environmental Law (WCEL).
Dr. Collins Odote
Lawyer and Senior Lecturer, Centre for Advanced Studies in Environmental Law and
Policy(CASELAP), University of Nairobi
Collins Odote is a Lawyer with a degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Law from the University of Nairobi. His
areas of expertise are Environmental Law, Land and Governance He joined the University of Nairobi in 2010
and continues to teach at Centre for Advanced Studies in Environmental Law and Policy (CASELAP) as a
lecturer and also at the School of Law, University of Nairobi. Prior to joining the University, he had worked
with and for a number of governmental and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) developing particular
competencies in legal research, project cycle management, evaluations, environment and natural resource
management work, capacity strengthening and training. He is also an advocate of the High Court of Kenya.
Dr. Odote has written widely on his area of expertise. His recent publication is on the Role of the
Environment and Land Court in Governing Natural Resources in Kenya (Nomos, 2019). He is also a
weekly columnist with Kenya’s Business Daily Newspaper.
4. LEGAL LIMITS ON SINGLE-USE
PLASTIC AND MICROBEADS
CAROLE EXCELL
Photo Source: Marco Verch Professional Photographer/Flickr
5. INCREASE IN REGULATION
Source: Legal Limits on Single-Use Plastics and Microplastics: A Global Review of
National Laws and Regulations
6. INCREASE IN REGULATION
Source: Legal Limits on Single-Use Plastics and Microplastics: A Global Review of
National Laws and Regulations
8. Source: Legal Limits on Single-Use Plastics and Microplastics: A Global Review of
National Laws and Regulations
9. Source: Legal Limits on Single-Use Plastics and Microplastics: A Global Review of
National Laws and Regulations
10. Photo Source: Mitchell Haindfield/Flickr
• Guidance is needed to support countries in developing more
comprehensive approaches to plastic regulation.
• There is a great need to examine the effectiveness of different legislative
approaches.
• Most action has been taken to address plastic bags, while other single-use
plastic regulation is significantly behind. Even the regulation of plastic
bags is not standardized.
• Very little regulation of manufacturing, or requiring the use of alternative
materials and eco-design.
• Import controls have had significant impact.
11. Directive on the Reduction of the Impact of Certain
Plastic Products on the Environment
Hugo Maria Schally
Head of Unit at European Commission, DG Environment
Greening Governance, Washington, D.C. 10th July 2019
13. Marine Litter: The Challenge
Health concerns
Degradation of marine ecosystems (13 billion Euros a year)
Impact on fisheries and aquaculture (1-5% of total fleet revenue)
and ports/shipping
Tourism and coastal communities (>630 million euros)
14. The Need to Act
EU’s Contribution
to the Problem
Single Market Innovation Race
17. Engagement Plastics Strategy
"A legislative initiative on single-use plastics at EU level
still to be tabled by this Commission"
"Approach used for lightweight plastic bags"
"The Commission will also develop targeted measures for
reducing the loss or abandonment of fishing gear at sea"
18. • Curb the negative economic and environmental impacts
arising from littering of single-use plastics and from
abandoned fishing gears
• Significant reduction of littering
Objective
19. Scope
• Most found items on European beaches
• Top 10 SUP (43%) + fishing gear (27%) = 70% covered
• Source:
o European Regional Seas Conventions
o Joint Research Center
Non-plastic
16%
Fishing related
27%
Other
plastics
7%
SUP top 10 items
43%
Remaining SUP
items
6%
SUP
50%
24. Consumption reduction
Prevention Measures
• Significant reduction of consumption of on-the-go products:
o Food containers
o Cups for beverages
• Member States choose the appropriate measures
o Consumption reduction targets
o Economic instruments
o Increase the availability of alternatives, e.g. re-usable
25. Market Restriction
Prevention Measures
• Restrictions only target the plastic content, not the product itself
• Only products with readily available alternatives (single & multi-
use):
▪ Cotton bud sticks
▪ Cutlery
▪ Plates
▪ Straws
▪ Beverage stirrers
▪ Sticks for balloons
▪ Oxo Plastics
• Product design requirement for the top littered item (single-
use beverage containers): plastic caps and lids must remain
attached during use
26. Labelling Requirements and Awareness Raising
Prevention Measures
• Labelling for balloons and products that are inappropriately
disposed of through the sewers:
o Sanitary towels and tampons
o Wet wipes
o Cigarettes
• Harmonised labelling requirement
• Awareness raising and education campaigns
by Member States, covered by EPR
(except sanitary towels and tampons)
27. Separate Collection
Waste Management
Measures
• 90% separate collection target → plastic beverage bottles
• Inter alia by Deposit Refund System or target for EPR
→ by 2025
o Facilitate the attainment of plastic packaging recycling target
of 55%
→ by 2035
o Facilitate the attainment of high quality recyclates to support
the uptake of secondary raw materials
28. Extended Producer Responsibility
Waste Management
Measures
• All single-use plastic products (that are not subject to market
ban) and fishing gear
• Financial responsibility of producers
o Collection and subsequent treatment of waste
o Clean-up of litter
o Awareness raising
• Consistency with the minimum requirements for EPR schemes
defined in Waste Framework Directive
• Member States to establish specific EPR scheme objectives,
including the level of ambition for clean-up activities
29. Evaluation
Future-Proofing
• Evaluation of the Directive after 6 years
• Report by the Commission on the feasibility to:
o Review the list of SUPs in the Annex
o Set consumption reduction targets for food containers and
beverage cups
o Study whether there are biodegradable plastics that fully
address the concerns of biodegradability in the marine
environment
30. Learn more about this Directive, the plastics strategy and the
circular economy:
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/circular-economy/index_en.htm
31. REGULATING PLASTIC POLLUTION:
EXPERIENCES FROM KENYA
Talking Notes for Dr. Collins Odote
Greening Governance Seminar on SlowingTheTidalWave of
Plastic Polluting theWorld Ocean
11th July, 2019
Washington, D.C.
32. CONTEXT
• Kenya’s coastline extends about 600 km along the seafront, from Somalia’s border
at Ishakani in the north toTanzania’s border atVanga in the south
• Home to rich and diverse array of flora and fauna
• land, rivers, lakes, estuaries and other wetlands, grasslands, coastal and mangrove forests,
sea grass and coral reefs
• Support multiple uses including tourism, agriculture, fisheries, forestry, wildlife
management and transport (shipping)
• Despite importance, threatened by range of pressures largely anthropogenic
• Pollution, land degradation, climate change, over-fishing, erosion, loss of habitat
32
33. THE ENVIRONMENTAL CHALLENGE
• Every day, 9 out of 10 of us breathe air in which concentrations of air pollution
exceed the limits set out in the World Health Organization’s air quality guidelines
and more than 17,000 people will die prematurely as a consequence. Hundreds of
children below the age of five die from diseases caused by contaminated water
and poor hygiene daily. Women and girls continue to be disproportionately
affected, whether it be as a result of cooking with dirty fuel or walking long
distances to find safe water. Every year we dump 4.8 to 12.7 million tonnes of
plastic in our oceans and generate over 40 million tonnes of electronic waste —
increasing every year by 4 to 5 percent — causing severe damage to ecosystems,
livelihoods and human health.
-2017 UNEA Ministerial Declaration
33
34. SOME MORE STATISTICS AND
IMPLICATIONS FOR KENYA
• 2017 UNEP Report on Single-Use Plastics
• Only 9% of the 9 billion plastic produced by the world ever recycled.
Meaning? Majority is in the environment …
• With current consumption and production patterns, by 2050 around 12
billion plastics will be in landfills and the environment
• Country with poor waste management practices, poor collection, poor
disposal, limited recycling and no waste separation
• Plastic menace a huge challenge for country
34
36. DEALING WITH PLASTIC
CHALLENGE IN KENYA
• Many decades of work against plastic in Kenya. However spur for real
focus was report in international press, FlyingToilets in informal slums
• 2005: GoK & UNEP study recommended ban on thin bags and levy on
thicker bags
• 2005: first effort at ban. GoK prohibiting the manufacture and sale of
plastic bags with a thickness of 30 microns
• 2007: second effort at ban. Prohibiting manufacture of plastic bags less
than 30 microns and 120% excise duty placed on them
• 2011: third effort at ban. Covering manufacture of plastic bags below
thickness of 60 microns
• All efforts met resistance from private sector
36
37. 2017 BAN
In exercise of the powers conferred under Sections 3 and 86 of the
Environmental Management and Co-ordination Act, it is notified to the public
that the Cabinet Secretary for Environment and Natural Resources has with
effect from six months from the date of this notice banned the use, manufacture
and importation of all plastic bags used for commercial and household packaging
defined as follows:
• (a) Carrier bag-Bag constructed with handles and with or without gussets
• (b) Bag constructed without handles, and with or without gussets
Dated the 28th February, 2017
JUDI W WAKHUNGU
Cabinet Secretary for Environment and Natural Resources
37
38. IMPLEMENTATION OF BAN
• Ban was to take effect after six months
• Immediate opposition from KAM
• Court intervention and arguments about:
o Legality
o Lack of public participation
o Lack of penalties
• “This case confirms that dealing with plastic waste is an issue of the moment the world
over … Due to the foregoing, it is our finding that the first respondent has power under
Sections 3 and 86 of EMCA to ban plastic bags.We therefore reject the petitioners’
contention that the first respondent acted ultra vires the said provisions of EMCA.”
-Kenya Association of Manufacturers vs. Cabinet Secretary, Ministry of Environment and
Natural Resources and 3 others Petition Number 375 of 2017
• Confirmation that penalty, while not in Gazette notice, derived from general Penalty
under EMCA
o Term of between 1 year and 4 years and/or fine of between 2 million and 4 million
Kenyan shillings
38
39. NEMA CLARIFICATIONS
• 1st September 2017: clarification notice (letter)
o All carrier bags (juala) banned
o Flat bags outside industrial setting banned.Those used for industrial
packaging at source exempted
▪ Requirement to comply with extended producer responsibility and
takeback schemes
▪ Labelling of manufacturer and end-user to ease monitoring
▪ Inventory to aid takeback schemes
o Flat bags used as garbage and hazardous (medical and chemical waste liners)
exempt
o Duty-free shopping bags exempt
39
41. IMPLEMENTATION PROGRESS AND
CHALLENGES
• Non comprehensive legal notice
• The challenge of lack of initial support from private sector
• Lack of ready alternatives at start of ban
• Monitoring efficacy
• Public awareness and participation in development and implementation
• Smuggling
• Impact on small scale traders
• The continued sustainable development balance challenges
41
42. LESSONS
• Ban has led to awareness of dangers of plastics
• Anecdotal evidence of reduction of plastics in Kenya’s oceans
• Current discussions on aWaste Management Bill and Draft Plastic Packaging
Materials and Control Regulations, 2018
• Eradicating plastic pollution and comprehensiveness of legal instrument and
other measures necessary
• Need to move from ban to circular economy imperatives
42