ETCO PARTICIPATES IN THE 2024 ANNUAL CIRCULAR PACKAGING CONFERENCE
The Loresho air smelled of cut grass and diesel from the road outside Shamba Events — the kind of Nairobi morning where you button your jacket and still hope for tea. On 22 October 2024, day one of the Kenya Extended Producer Responsibility Organisation (KEPRO) Annual Circular Packaging Conference, ETCO stepped into a room where packaging was not just “waste” but a design problem the whole country is trying to solve.
The theme hung over every session: Advancing Circularity — Innovating for Sustainable Packaging Solutions. Between panels, people leaned across aisles swapping cards and honest frustrations: thin films that choke recyclers, labels that confuse sorting lines, policies racing behind reality. It is easy to feel small in that conversation; it is also where community organisations belong, because we see the end of the pipe every day.
Day two, 23 October, stretched the learning beyond PowerPoint. KEPRO organised a Circular Tour for stakeholders along the value chain — aggregators, recyclers, and a stop at the Kenya Industrial Research and Development Institute (KIRDI). Watching material move from pile to process makes the jargon evaporate. You stop talking about “circularity” in the abstract and start asking practical questions: who collects, who pays, who gets hurt when the system fails?
We left with notebooks fuller than our pockets — and with a clearer line between conference optimism and the muddy work back in Kibera. If you work in packaging or logistics and want to connect what you design with what we handle on the ground, reach out. The best ideas die without honest feedback from neighbourhoods like ours.
Project Site Visit by Rotary Club of IPSWICH (USA) and Kikuyu (Kenya)
It was a great and engaging day of partnership and learning as we hosted the International Rotary Club of IPSWICH team, led by Environmental Lawyer Chris and his wife, Jane, Former President of Rotary Club of Kikuyu Hon. George Ngotho and Rotarian Yumbya for a visit to our project implementation sites. The visit provided an opportunity to review the project areas on the ground, discuss implementation priorities, and strengthen our shared commitment to sustainable environmental and community development. We also had the opportunity to visit the Nairobi Rivers Commission (NRC), where we were hosted by Commissioner Dr. Loice Kipkorir, a member of the Ngong River Committee. We explored opportunities to strengthen collaboration and align our work with the Nairobi Rivers Commission's Restoration Framework.
Community Capacity Building Training
We are currently participating in the ongoing PROVE (Public Space Governance Research, Observation, Validation and Experimentation) Pilot Programme, a four-month initiative by Public Space Networks (PSN) bringing together 11 community groups from Kamukunji and Korogocho. The programme focuses on strengthening community organizations’ capacity to manage, protect and improve public spaces as well as restoring rivers and it's ecosystems. The ongoing capacity-building training is helping CBOs and community organizations better understand the connection between public spaces, river restoration and ecosystem conservation, while exploring practical approaches and stronger collaboration among communities, government agencies, development partners and other stakeholders.
High Level NRC & Development Partners Meeting
Representing the Ngong River Regeneration Network, I'm having the privilege of attending a high-level breakfast meeting convened by the Nairobi Rivers Commission (NRC) in collaboration with the Kenya Permanent Mission to UN-Habitat. The meeting has brought together Development Partners, Government Agencies, Private Sector representatives, and Community representatives to deliberate on the restoration and sustainable management of Nairobi’s rivers.