Campaigners Tell Kenyan Government 'Don't Backslide on Plastics' in US Trade Deal

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Campaigners are calling on the Kenyan government to protect the country from an influx of plastic pollution as a consequence of a new free trade agreement with the US.

An online petition, organised by Greenpeace, calls on officials to reject terms in any new agreement that would make it easier for the US to export its plastic to Kenya. ย The โ€œDo Not Backslide on Plasticsโ€ campaign already has over 21,000ย signatures.

It was launched after revelations by Greenpeaceโ€™s investigative journalism unit Unearthed that showed the American Chemistry Council (ACC) lobby group was pushing the US Trade Representative to include terms that would contradict Kenyaโ€™s recent efforts to curb its plasticย consumption.

In public letters to the US Trade Representative and US International Trade Commission, the Council writes: โ€œKenya could serve in the future as a hub for supplying US-made chemicals and plastics to other markets in Africa through this tradeย agreement.โ€

The ACC is backed by fossil fuel companies including Chevron, ExxonMobil, Shell, Total and BP and major agri-chemical companies including Bayer, BASF, FMC andย Corteva.


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Contradictoryย goals

Greenpeace is asking Kenyaโ€™s Cabinet Secretary for Trade, Industrialisation and Enterprise Development, Betty Maina, โ€œto commit to Africa’s Plastic-free visionโ€ as the country negotiates with the US.

Rwanda pioneered a ban on single use plastic bags in 2008, followed by Kenya in 2017 and Tanzania in 2019. This year Kenya marked World Environment Day by introducing a ban on single use plastic in all beaches, forests and conservationย areas.

Fredrick Njehu, Senior Political Advisor for Greenpeace Africa, says most of those who signed the petition are Kenyans, many of them young and alarmed at the prospect of their country being turned into a gateway for the export of plastics to the rest ofย Africa.

โ€œThis is not solely a Greenpeace petition, it is a peopleโ€™s petition. The number of people who have signed the document so far shows there is lots of concern among the public. We are hoping to get an audience with the minister to officially handover the document and explain our opposition,โ€ Njehuย said.

An ACC spokesperson told Unearthed that its activity was driven by a concern that new regulations โ€œcould very well limit the ability of African and other developing countries to properly manage plasticย waste.โ€

Weakening environmentalย regulations

The ACC has a history of pushing to slow action on climate change and weaken environmental regulations, through its donations and lobbyingย activity.

Beneficiaries of the ACC include the American Council on Science and Health (ACSH), which has claimed there is โ€œno scientific consensus concerning global warmingโ€, and Republican Senator and infamous climate science denier James Inhofe.

The ACC is also affiliated with the American Legislative Exchange Council, which works with corporations includingย ExxonMobil,ย Koch Industries,ย Peabody Energy, andย Reynolds Tobaccoย to weaken regulations in state-levelย legislation.ย 

The ACCโ€™s lobbying efforts go beyond the Kenya-US deal. DeSmog previously revealed how the group is working to water down environmental regulations in a USUK free tradeย deal.

The ACC told a trade hearing in January 2019 that a USUK trade deal should include โ€œinvestor-state-dispute-settlements,โ€ which have been used by companies to sue governments attempting to put in place stronger environmental protections, as well as โ€œregulatory cooperation,โ€ widely seen as US-trade speak for watering downย regulations.

In May 2020, it published a joint statement with the UKโ€™s Chemical Industries Association in an effort to push both US and UK governments to mirror theseย demands.ย 

Photo credit: MonicaVolpin

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Maina Waruru, is a freelance journalist based in Nairobi, Kenya, with over 20 years of experience covering science and development, climate, environment, water, agriculture, and higher education across Africa. His work has appeared in Reuters, The Nation, Business Daily, and The Standard, among others.

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