KEPSA was represented by Ms. Faith Ngige in the inaugural specialized training course on, "The Making of Extended Producer Responsibility Schemes (EPR) 2023," in the month of February 2023, trained by Copenhagen University, Denmark, under the Kenya-Denmark Strategic Sector Co-operation for Environment through sponsorship by Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA). The Extended Producer Responsibility is being rolled out in many countries, including developing countries, as part of the circular economy strategies. 

The private sector through KEPSA and the government through the Ministerial Stakeholders Forum (MSF) held between the KEPSA Environment, Water, and Natural Resources Sector Board and the Ministry of Environment Climate Change, and Forestry on August 9, 2019, agreed to develop a legal framework for extended producer responsibility in Kenya. Since 2019, the private sector working with the government has included the section on mandatory EPR in the Sustainable Waste Management Act 2022, enacted on July 6, 2022.

In addition, through a collaborative effort, the private sector and the government have developed the Extended Producer Responsibility regulations, which are undergoing legal drafting at the Office of the Attorney General. The Sustainable Waste Management Act 2022, Section 13, obligates all producers that introduce products specified under schedule one of the regulations, to the Kenyan market, to bear mandatory Extended Producer Responsibility for the post-consumer stage and their products' lifecycles.

The lead trainer, Prof. Maj Anderson, Associate Professor in the Department of Geoscience and Natural Resource Management, University of Copenhagen, expounded on the significance of EPR in providing an efficient financial system and incentives for circular innovation, design for recycling, cooperation, and collaboration. The EPR training aimed at providing deep insight into EPR systems and drawing lessons, both positive and negative EPR cases internationally, in both developed and developing countries. Key sectorial EPR systems for electronics, batteries, automotive, packaging/beverages, textiles, and furniture, among others, were also shared during the course.

Nonetheless, several challenges exist in getting the real status of EPR across the globe, including a lack of the best documented EPR practices in effecting circular designs, widespread ignorance on the extent, distribution, characteristics, and impact, few performance indicators, fragmented data, and different levels of knowledge in different countries. The training focused on key themes of EPR, including setting up and modeling EPR, legislative frameworks underpinning EPR, and circular innovations and eco-designs in EPR, among others.

Included in the course was Kenya Day which took place on February 16, 2023,  where the Kenyan participants shared their journey to mandatory extended producer responsibility through the years as driven by the ban on single-use plastics, the adoption of voluntary EPR schemes such as PETCO-Kenya, the development of the Kenya Plastic Action Plan by  producers committing to EPR in Kenya, and the challenges of free riders necessitating the need for mandatory extended producer responsibility that is now in effect through the sustainable waste management act 2022. Rigorous dialogue and multistakeholder engagement driven by the private sector and government had seen Kenya adopt the EPR policy within a short period of time.

In addition, trainees got to study EPR cases across the European Union, China, India, and upcoming EPR in Chile, Ghana, Nigeria, Egypt, Kenya, Indonesia, South Africa, Germany, and Denmark. Indonesia shared its best practice of incorporating the informal sector into EPR systems through automation and supporting the waste collectors in gaining access to buildings and capital in a formal way. EPR requires intensive stakeholder engagement by both government and private sector entities. The trainees drew action plans that will be reviewed from time to time by the Strategic Sector Co-operation Counselors, DANIDA, and Copenhagen University.

Kenya participants were drawn from institutions that have been instrumental in operationalizing the Extended Producer Responsibility in Kenya led by KEPSA including the Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM), Ministry of Environment, Climate Change and Forestry, National Environment Management Authority (NEMA), State Department of Industrialization, Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF), Royal Danish Embassy in Kenya, Discover Brands, PETCO Kenya, Coca Cola Beverages Africa, and the WEEE Center.