Abstract
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The legal gap analysis on waste data management represents an important step in addressing waste
management challenges in Kenya. The analysis determines the extent to which policies and laws
on waste management meet the requirements on waste data and information as set out in the
Sustainable Waste Management Act (2022) and the draft Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR)
Regulations (2023). In pursuit of this aim, the gaps and recommendations from this analysis are a
product of broad and careful consideration of waste management policies and laws by reference
to the Sustainable Waste Management Act (2002).
The legal gaps from the analysis include: (i) lack of clear and consistent definitions of waste and
waste categories; (ii) lack of precise formulation of the duty of care, including a duty to collect
data, imposed within the waste management sector at national and county levels; (iii) limited data
collection and recording requirements; (iv) inconsistent approach to informal sector between
counties; (v) varied provisions on licencing; (vi) unclear purposes of waste data collection and
reporting; (vii) lack of transparency; and (viii) gaps in data management under the latest proposed
EPR Regulations (2023). Most of these gaps are linked. If there is no consistent definition of waste
and types of waste, for example, then the collected data on waste may be neither consistent nor
comparable, thereby making data less useful. Similarly, the purpose of data collection and
reporting should underpin waste data requirements in the legal landscape and aid transparency,
and varied licensing provisions results in inconsistent data collection. The gaps within the legal
landscape on waste data requirements can therefore not be fully addressed in siloes. Moreover, the
gaps identified are exacerbated by challenges in identifying the most recent and up-to-date
documents, which inhibit understanding of licensing and waste data requirements. The varying
and inconsistent approaches are also exacerbated by lack of cross-referencing between and clarity
in setting out the hierarchy of relevant legislation.
The recommendations made throughout the report are mutually supportive and complementary.
Waste management laws should be amended to (i) provide for a harmonised definition of ‘waste’
across national and county levels and ensure consistency of data reporting; (ii) impose a duty of
care upon all stakeholders in the waste management chain to support the building of an approach
which monitors and measures the production and management of waste; (iii) specify and
consistently implement and apply the system of reporting waste data in details; (iv) incorporate
the informal sector into the formal sector, so that they are also subject to data collection and
reporting requirements; (v) transition to a licensing system that aligns data collection and reporting
duties; (vi) clearly and consistently state the purpose of the collection and reporting of data; and
(vii) in relation to the proposed EPR regulations: clarify data requirements, develop targets for
particular types of waste, ensuring consistency in reporting systems, and insert cross-referencing
to other laws throughout.