KEPSA, led by the Deputy CEO – Competitiveness and Operations Mr. Victor Ogalo, participated in Kenya – Denmark Exchange Program on circular economy for sustainable waste management in Denmark under the Strategic Sector Co-operation on Environment. The visit aimed at sharing best practices in waste management and innovation, systems and institutional arrangements and regulations for a sustainable environment. The Kenya delegation was led by Dr. Chris Kiptoo – Principal Secretary, Ministry of Environment and Forestry; Hon. Eng. Paul Musyimi – Vice-Chair of Environment and Natural Resources Committee of the National Assembly and Hon. Paul Githiomi – Chair of Senate Committee on Lands, Environment and Natural resources.

On 25^th April 2022, the team visited the Environmental Protection of Denmark. Ms. Annette Samulsen – Head of Division of Management and Communication shared some of the environmental issues handled by DEPA which include green transition, renewable energy, resource efficiency, circular economy and recycling, climate adaptation, environmental technologies, nature protection and biodiversity. Mr. Christian Herper – DEPA applauded Kenya for taking bold steps in the transition to a circular economy including the ban on single-use plastics and the SSC partnership in supporting the transition to the circular economy. Later the team visited Odence Recycling Company Limited, Zirkel Re-Use Center, and the Odense Waste Management Center (an active Landfill), the Zirkel Reuse Center, where municipality collection, reuse, recycling organization and final disposal systems and practices were shared.

Also present in the delegation included the Director-General of NEMA Mr. Mamo B. Mamo, representatives from Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM), Kenya Alliance of Resident Associations (KARA), Ministry of Environment and the Royal Danish Embassy in Kenya officials and members of Environment and Lands and Natural Resources Committee of Parliament from the Senate and the National Assembly advancing the partnership and collaboration between Kenya and Denmark for sustainable and inclusive development.

On April 27, 2022, KEPSA as a member of the Denmark Strategic Sector Co-operation visited the H.J Hansen (HJH) recycling centre for scrap metal in Odense Municipality – Denmark. The recycling company has been in existence since 1829 and extracts ferrous metals and other non-ferrous metals for reselling back to the smelters, manufacturers and other producers. HJH receives 70,000 scrap cars a year. The facility is equipped with modern shredders and sorting machines. Zorba, copper, aluminium, zinc and other materials are mined from the scrap cars, refrigerators, and washing machines among other metals and thus diverted from the environment back into the economy and sold across Europe.

According to Sophus Borch, a representative of the company, products of ferrous scrap are melted and recycled with a purity above 99 %. Mr. Ogalo noted that there is a huge potential in investing in such a facility in Kenya, especially in Mombasa, since a lot of vehicles that are imported into the country, get to their end of life.

The Kenya delegation also visited a decommissioned landfill in Odense that is currently a recreation site. The landfill was decommissioned in 1994 and the facility has a number of games, cycling and fishing facilities. As Kenya considers a shift from dumpsites, lessons drawn from the decommissioned landfill are valuable to ensure the environment remains protected in a sustainable manner.