In this report from an audit of 12,288 plastic bottles waste from across Kenya, brands associated with The Coca-Cola Company account for 41.27 %. This percentage is extremely high, given that 428 brands were found in this audit.
In the bottled water category, Quencher Life, a product of Excel Chemicals was found to be the leading polluter with 12.27 %. However, The Coca-Cola Company water brands of Dasani (8.36 %) and Keringet (3%) ensures the company still leads in this category.
Among carbonated drinks of sodas, Coca-Cola brands of Coca-Cola (25.07 %), Fanta Orange (18.02 %), Sprite (13.28 %), Fanta Black Currant (8.24%0, Fanta Passion (6.26%), and Krest leads among the top six with Highlands Drinks Limited brands of Club Cola (3.85%) and Club Lemon Lime (3.56 %) coming in seventh and eighth respectively.
Among products marketed as ‘Energy Drinks’, Power Play (40.66%) and Predator (24.07%), associated locally with The Coca-Cola Company, also leads.
Finally in the non-carbonated category of drinks marketed as Juices, Minute Maid, also a product of The Coca-Cola Company is the biggest polluter in the country.
More critical findings from this audit will be released in the coming days with a final report available here. The statistical data will later be shared with relevant government agencies and released to the public for further analysis and debate.
Member of Parliament to request for a Ministerial Statement on plastic pollution in Kenya
Dagoretti South Member of Parliament, Hon. John Kiarie, popularly known as KJ, attended the launch of this report together with other leaders from civil society and the private sector. Among these were James Wakibia, a prominent activist against single-use plastics in Kenya. Mr. Wakibia read a statement condemning corporations including The Coca-Cola Company for passing the blame of plastic pollution to consumers.
Hon. John Kiarie, in his remarks, narrated how he had been ‘schooled’ by Betterman Simidi Musasia, Clean Up Kenya Founder and Patron over a period of two years on the issue of plastic pollution over WhatsApp, underlying the Founder’s tireless work to bring to the limelight this issue. He declared that he had now converted and would use the instruments available to him to bring this matter to the attention of Parliament.
Two critical areas that he will be requesting a parliamentary statement to the relevant Cabinet Secretaries are the issues of rampant child labor in recycling in the country and corporate slave labor by those concerned who profiteer from the work of Kenya’s waste pickers by receiving billions of shillings in subsidies from Kenya Association of Manufacturers and PETCO Kenya and only giving waste pickers less that 5 Kenya Shillings per kilo of PET waste collected. Clean Up Kenya will be working with the Member of Parliament to prepare this request for the statement.
About Clean Up Kenya
Established in 2015, Clean Up Kenya is a national advocacy organization working to hold to account government duty bodies, state officers, corporations, green-washing Non-Governmental Organizations, and domestic and commercial polluters for Kenya’s public sanitation crisis.
We primarily work with communities to advance their rights to sustainable public sanitation.
As experts in community mobilizing for cleanups, we have conducted numerous projects across the country with some being attended by over 1000 volunteers.
At the core of our work is honest and actual involvement in communities – not PR events.
We receive no funding for our work but collaborate with other like-minded organizations both nationally and internationally on projects.
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One in every two plastic bottles waste in Kenya is from Coca-Cola