James Odongo of KEPRO: Pioneering Kenya’s Circular Economy Through EPR and Recycling Innovation
In this interview with James Odongo, CEO of KEPRO (Kenya Extended Producer Responsibility Organisation), he outlines how the organisation is spearheading Kenya’s transition to a circular economy through regulatory alignment, recycling innovation, and strategic public engagement.
Founded in response to the 2017 plastic bag ban in Kenya, KEPRO was established as a special purpose vehicle to help producers take full environmental responsibility for the post-consumption lifecycle of their products. With over 1,000 member companies and close collaboration with the Kenya Association of Manufacturers, KEPRO plays a central role in the implementation of the Sustainable Waste Management Act and EPR regulations introduced in 2024.
Odongo explains that KEPRO’s primary mission is to future-proof business models by encouraging adoption of circular business practices and ensuring compliance with evolving environmental laws. The organization addresses major hurdles such as the cost of compliance, helping members manage financial contributions through a technology-enabled EPR platform that ensures real-time data access and transparency.
With a clear focus on digital transformation, KEPRO has moved beyond manual filing to an interactive compliance system that supports self-declaration, helping reduce administrative burden and increase data confidentiality, especially among competitor-member companies.
Looking ahead to 2025, KEPRO expects growth in collection subsidies, technology investment, and waste compliance support. These budgets are directly tied to partnerships with waste management operators and recyclers, as KEPRO strengthens recycling ecosystems and champions recyclable packaging design. Odongo highlighted the shift by brands like Sprite from green to clear plastic bottles as a positive example of end-of-life product management aligned with recycling goals.
To drive consumer behavior change, KEPRO deploys a mixed communication strategy using digital campaigns, grassroots engagement, social dialogues, and community influencers to reinforce its message: “My waste is my responsibility.” This call to action urges all Kenyans to embrace waste segregation, proper bin use, and active citizenship in building a clean and healthy environment.
KEPRO’s three-year vision is to cement its leadership as Kenya’s premier producer responsibility organization, outpacing competition while scaling its partnerships and environmental impact. At the heart of its strategy lies a commitment to ESG, public-private collaboration, and ensuring that Kenyan businesses remain sustainable, competitive, and compliant in a rapidly evolving regulatory landscape.
What Strategic Shifts Are You Making To Keep That Enlarged Community Aligned With KEPRO’s 2030 Circular-Economy Goals?
KEPRO is from the Kenya Extended Producer Responsibility Organisation. It was a special-purpose vehicle that was established by visionary leaders in Kenya’s business landscape. This was as a result of initial government decisions to ban the use of single-use plastic carrier bags in Kenya in 2017. KEPRO came in as a special-purpose vehicle that would see producers in Kenya take responsibility for the entire lifecycle of their product. In this case, we are talking about the environmental consequences of their products. They do this by instituting procedures to ensure that waste arising from their products at the post-consumption level is retrieved. This has been ongoing since 2021. Currently, KEPRO has a membership of around 1,000 and is closely affiliated with the Kenya Association of Manufacturers.
In terms of the strategic proposition that has been presented to members to ensure alignment with the realisation of a circular economy in Kenya, the first question that always arises is the cost element. At KEPRO, there has been a deliberate effort to redefine the narrative on circular business models so that businesses understand that this extends beyond the cost element and serves as a way to future-proof their business models. Unfortunately, interruptions by the government in the form of banning and restriction of certain packaging materials have often interrupted business flow. For KEPRO, the transition to a circular economy is first to future-proof business models and, secondly, to provide businesses with that social license. Increasingly, consumers are becoming much more aware of their role as far as environmental stewardship is concerned, and this has led them to have more affinity for sustainable production and sustainable brands. That, in turn, provides an opportunity to build much more resilient business models that are aligned to consumer needs and, of course, that also means more profits and revenue optimisation in the long run.
Which Single Clause In The New Rules Is Proving Most Challenging For Brand Owners, And How Is KEPRO Helping Them Adapt?
After the ban on single-use plastic carrier bags, there was a very purposeful discussion to ensure that there would be predictability of the regulatory landscape in Kenya. That is where the framework to transition Kenya towards a circular economy was identified. Effective 2022, Kenya has the Sustainable Waste Management Act, from which the respective regulations, including the Plastics Regulation of 2024, stem. This is also tied to the Extended Producer Responsibility Regulation that came into effect in 2024.
With respect to the most challenging aspect of compliance, especially for businesses that were initially doing it on a voluntary basis and those that had not shown any sort of commitment, the major challenge has been the cost. Compliance comes at a cost. For the Extended Producer Responsibility framework, businesses are contributing certain amounts of funds to us as an organisation to help them fulfill the mandates and obligations set out in the regulations.
As an organisation, we are helping businesses by imparting them with the knowledge and capacity to be better equipped and aware of the fact that the regulations are intended to future-proof their businesses and ensure they take responsibility for the environmental consequences of their products. Further, because we are a member-based organisation, businesses can leverage the economies of scale. This means their cost of compliance is fairly low compared to if they were doing it on an individual basis.
What Adoption Metrics (Registrations, Monthly Filings) Are You Seeing So Far, And What Upgrades Are On The 2025 Roadmap?
From the onset, we were very deliberate in taking on bold business responsibility for two primary reasons. The first is that we have fairly confidential data from our members, recognising that this concerns the put-on-market volume of the packaging and products they deal with. If such data were accessed by any other person, it would compromise the integrity and ethical values upon which we are founded, as far as data confidentiality is concerned. In some scenarios, direct competitors are also members, and if such information were to be released, it would lead to unethical and unfair business practices among these competitors.
The second reason is that we needed to ensure that compliance was made easy for our members. We could only do this through leveraging technology. The initial model that could have been adopted was a fairly lethargic and laborious process, involving Excel sheets and physical documents that would have to be brought physically to our offices. Having an interactive system that enables easy access to our services and facilitates self-declaration processes has not only ensured improved compliance rates but also transparency from a member declaration point of view. From the technology platform, a member is able to know their overall commitments per year, what they have declared compared to what was collected and converted by the organisation, and to have real-time access to any other relevant information that would affect them as far as industry dynamics are concerned.
Looking At FY 2025, Which Budget Line Will Grow Fastest Collection Subsidies, Technology Investment, Or Communications And Why?
The subsidy contracts take up a fairly good portion of our revenues, and understandably so, because that is the primary reason we exist as an organisation — to retrieve as
much waste as possible from the environment. We can only do this through contracts with our recyclers and waste management operators, who are the people on the ground that do the collection and conversion of waste.
What Key Performance Indicators Does The Committee Track To Decide Whether A Campaign—Digital Or Grassroots—Has Earned Its Keep?
Given that we are an organisation aiming to promote behaviour change among our consumers, we must employ a mixed-use approach in our communication strategies. We leverage both mainstream and digital media platforms as an entry point for us. We also have physical interactions in the form of social dialogues and town hall meetings, where we are able to interact with members of the public and consumers to instigate social dialogues on what is affecting us as a community with respect to waste management.
In addition to the digital and mainstream media platforms and the physical interactions, we also utilize the influencer model. Whether it is through a trainer-on-trainer model or leveraging community influencers to share information, we ensure that our consumers and audiences are responding to our call to action with respect to proper disposal habits and other forms of sustainable waste management practices.
Can You Share One Innovation Or Partnership In Collection Or Recycling That You Expect To Scale Nationally In 2026?
With reference to partnerships between producers and recyclers, one of the biggest challenges recyclers have faced is the difficult nature of some forms of packaging products when it comes to recycling. Especially for multi-layered forms of packaging, this becomes a painstaking process for recyclers to undertake. This has necessitated very deliberate action in conversations between recyclers and manufacturers to ensure that product design and packaging at the ideation stage take into account the need for end-of-life management, either through recycling or other processes.
As an example, this has been demonstrated by a company that is not necessarily our member. As you may have noticed, the Sprite bottle was initially green, but there is an increasing preference for clear plastic bottles. This is to ensure that there is an affinity for recycling among waste management operators in the country. The initial green bottle did not have adequate value for the waste management operators and did not make a business case for recyclers.
What Specific Message Or Call-To-Action Would You Like Every Kenyan Consumer To Understand—And Act On—Before The End Of 2025?
The specific message for us has always been, and it is almost more of a clarion call, that my waste is my responsibility. The responsibility for a clean and healthy environment starts with you and me. This begins with the most basic forms of practice. The first is putting your waste in a bin, and the second step is ensuring that you are putting it in the right bin. By doing so, you are supporting a recycling ecosystem. As long as waste is mixed, there is no business case or incentive for a recycler to handle that waste. That is why we see landfills and illegal dumpsites, because there is no incentive for waste management operators to collect mixed waste.
So, my waste is my responsibility. It is a clarion call and a call to action that I hope different audiences, every Kenyan, and every citizen in the country will act upon — to ensure they are properly disposing of their waste, putting it in the right bin, and becoming ambassadors of change to inspire behavior change among other consumers and citizens who may not have this information.
What Would You Like To Achieve In The Next Three Years?
Seeing KEPRO as a leading producer responsibility organisation in the country, having ended off competition and solidified its position, is something that would be nice to have in the next three years.