The County Executive for Tourism, Culture, Natural Resources, and Climate Change, Elizabeth Loote held a meeting with representatives from the Danish Refugee Council (DRC) to discuss the implementation of a Fair Recycling Project in Kakuma, Turkana West.
Fair Recycling is a 3-year project piloted in Kakuma and Kalobeyei that aims to formalize and integrate plastic waste into an existing value chain, where communities earn a living through waste recovery.
Speaking during the meeting, CEC Loote said the county is keen to enhance its partnership with DRC in environmental and livelihood sustainability.
“We appreciate the collaboration on this project especially on its integration between the host community and the refugees.” She said.
She further reiterated the need to discourage child labor in waste management, where she called for the inclusion of child protection actors in the implementation of the project.
DRC Coordinator, David Oyore revealed that DRC had identified and trained 103 waste pickers and 9 aggregators in Kakuma and Kalobeyei respectively.
“The project will also be implemented through a local CBO and will enhance the living standards of pickers. It will also strengthen the plastic value chain benefitting waste pickers and the aggregators from the host and refugee communities,” said Oyore.
He extended an invitation for the launch of the Fair Recycling Project in December to the County Government.
In her remarks, the Director for the Environment, Phoebe Ekal, asked DRC through a public-private partnership to help support the plastic recycling project.
“In line with your project, the County Government has a plastic reuse facility which is 60% complete. We ask for more partners’ support to fully operationalize it.” Director said.
Her Climate Change counterpart George Emase also called for a visit to the project for familiarisation ahead of its launch.
Present were Jack Mutua (Principal Environment Officer) William Mbotela (Environment Officer) and Gladys Chesang (DRC’s Economic Recovery Assistant).
