A protester carries a bread and a teargas canister along Kenyatta Avenue, Nairobi, when demonstrators mainly youths staged a protest against the passage of Finance Bill 202, on June 20,2024. [Collins Kweyu, Standard] The cost of bread, alcohol, diapers and cosmetics is set to go up with the implementation of the Sustainable Waste Management (Extended Producer Responsibility or EPR) Regulations, 2024. The regulations, which are anchored under the Sustainable Waste Management Act, were gazetted on November 4, 2024. Producers and brand owners were given six months before implementation. They were gazetted by the Environment, Climate Change and Forestry Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale. The docket is currently being headed by Dr Deborah Barasa. The law and regulations were meant to make producers and brand owners responsible for the management of waste associated with their products. As such, the regulations have listed products that will be affected, attaching a fee of Sh150 for every packaging. The regulations have not impressed manufacturers and importers who until March 2025 were seeking a away forward with the National Environmental Management Authority (Nema), the state agency overseeing the implementation. “Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM) to convene a meeting with Nema to discuss the challenges with implementation of EPR and Plastics Regulations,” reads an outcome of a meeting held on March 27, 2025, with players in the rubber and plastic sector. “Members noted that the introduction of excise duty has increased the cost of finished products and making locally manufactured goods uncompetitive in the Kenyan market,” KAM opined in their March 2025 sector report. The list of affected products, as itemised in the First Schedule of the regulations, shows that the effect of the cost extends beyond bread, alcohol and cosmetics. From the list, servicing your car, electrical wiring in your home, running your manufacturing plant, and even taking care of your newborn are set to go up. A non-hazardous product packaged with plastics, aluminium, composite, paper and its corrugates, glass, cardboard, and cartons will attract a fee of Sh150 per item. A similar fee is imposed on hazardous products packaging such as industrial chemicals, oil and lubricants, pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals, veterinary, cosmetics, paints and solvents. This also extends to treated wood and agricultural films. Electrical and electronic equipment, mercury auto switches, thermostats, batteries and accumulators have also been imposed with a Sh150 fee per item. End-of-life motor vehicles, automobiles, aircraft, and locomotives have also been imposed with the same fee. Non-packaging items such as plastics, glass, paper, cardboard as well as furniture, except wooden and metallic also have been slapped with the Sh150 fee per item. Artificial hair The same has also been applied to rubber and tyres, textiles, leather, artificial hair, diapers and sanitary towels. A notice from Nema dated February 18, 2025, explained that the regulations shall apply to all producers which including manufacturers, importers and brand owners of products listed in the First Schedule (of the regulations) and the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) schemes for the listed items. “All importers of products listed in the first schedule shall, within six months from the gazettement date (November 4, 2024) register with Nema and pay the requisite fees as per the first schedule,” the notice reads. “All producers (brand owners) of products listed in the first schedule shall, within six months of the commencement of these regulations, apply to Nema for registration and issuance of an extended producer responsibility certificate.” An individual producer registration fee is Sh5,000. A collective extended producer responsibility scheme is Sh10,000, and Sh5,000 for individual extended producer responsibility schemes. The annual licence for a collective extended producer responsibility scheme is Sh100,000 and Sh50,000 if it is for an individual. “These regulations shall apply to products that produce waste that negatively impact the environment, human health and animal health,” the regulations read in part. The negative impact references are on the reusability, recyclability and recoverability. Also, high management cost of the products at the post-consumer stage of the quantities involved, the hazardous nature of the products, and the risk involved. Manufacturers are now required to have a track and trace system, mimicking what happens in some European countries, where there are rewards if one returns cans or plastic packaging of soft drinks. They are also required to go back to the drawing board and consider environmentally friendly packaging. “Design products and packaging materials that minimise waste, facilitate reuse, recycling, recovery and use of secondary raw materials where possible and are environmentally friendly at their end of life,” the regulations read.