The Nairobi River Basin Programme; “Less Waste Initiative”.

The less waste initiative is an activity under the Nairobi River Basin Programme phase III (NRBP III) on developing Environmental Management Systems (EMS) for commerce and industry. NRBP III is led by UNEP in partnership with UNDP, UN Habitat and GoK. Under the NRBP III, KNCPC is implementing the less waste initiative aimed to enhance service delivery, environmental conservation and sustainable utilization of resources. This will be achieved through a Voluntary Environmental Code of practice for industry and businesses within the Nairobi River Basin. Businesses shall be trained and guided on the implementation of this Code of Conduct leading to an in-house Environmental Management System (EMS). This will enable such enterprises and businesses to comply easily with set environmental regulations and especially the Environmental management and coordination Act (EMCA 1999) and the contained regulations on water quality and waste management. Such a voluntary approach will reach beyond government regulations and improve industry’s and businesses environmental performance

The Nairobi River is subjected to extreme levels of pollution ranging from agricultural nutrients and raw domestic sewage, to the highly toxic industrial waste. The main challenge to the Nairobi’s environment is to reduce pollution into the Nairobi River and restore its quality. As a solution to this, the environmental code has an implementation guide covering contemporary tools of environmental management such as Cleaner Production (CP), Environmental cost accounting, Life cycle analysis, green supply management, eco design, among others that advocates for waste minimization at source. This shall enable businesses to make money from what is otherwise categorized as waste while at the same time reducing wastes which end up into the river. This business approach to waste management is more sustainable and self-sustaining on a voluntary basis, and this forms the basis of this project.