Policy and legislative environment
for value addition for agro-based
industrial effluents in Kenya
Maurice Nyunja Otieno
NEMA
Kenya
Bio-innovate Regional Experts Workshop on Industrial Effluents
Management in East Africa, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 19-20 May 2014

Outline of the presentation
 Background information
 Methodology
 National circumstances
o The constitution
o Vision 2030
o Agro-based growth & development
o Climate change action plan
o Technology
o Capacity
o Lessons from the Case studies
• Legislative & Policy landscape
o Challenges
o Conclusion and Recommendations

A slaughterhouse in Dagoreti-
Nairobi
One of the seven slaughter houses at Dagoretti near
Nairobi City, this slaughter houses supplies the City with its
meat. At least 30 animals are slaughtered from each
slaughtered house in a day. NB the flow of blood and offal

A huge bio-digester for
methane capture
30,000 m³ of gas is collected every month and used to replace 10,000 m³ of
heavy fuel,this save the company kshs 20 million in a month.

Objectives
 Examine the National circumstances in Kenya related to
value addition for agro-based industrial effluents
management
 Examine the legislative and policy landscape in Kenya
related to value addition for agro-based industrial effluents
management
 Determine some of the barriers for technological uptake and
adoption
 Establish whether there is mainstreaming of value addition to
agro-based industrial effluent in the policy, plans and projects.
 Point out challenges and propose areas for future policy
decisions.

Methodology
 Reviewed existing literature including legislations and
policies of various government agencies in the related
sector
 Consulted the registry in NEMA for EIA & EA & water
quality regulation( license registry)
 Conducted Personal Interviews with officers and
experts in industrial effluents treatment & waste water
quality ,private sector, Industries and the civil society.
 Visited selected agro- based industries in various parts
of the Country & in particular those with best
practices.

National circumstances
 The Constitution of the republic of Kenya has elevated ‘
right to healthy and clean environment ‘ into human right
article 26
 Created a two tier government system with the County
and National government assigning each of the
governments specific role in the area of Environment
management
 Pollution control and waste management is County
government duty (schedule IV),however development of
National policy, legislation ,regulation and National
standards is a National government duty.
 Vision 2030 ,the National development blue print has
flagged out environment management and in particular
pollution control & waste management core to its
deliverables

cont
 National climate response strategy & National climate change action plan
goal – to attain a climate resilient development and low emission growth
› this means calls for shift to alternative sources of energy away from
fossil fuel based sources and adopting GHG emission reduction
technologies and embracing clean development mechanism as
stipulated by the UNFCCC.
› Developing NAMAs for registration with UNFCCC
› Carbon credit project s for registration in various market including the
Joint credit mechanism , where has Kenya government signed an MOU
with the Government of Japan
 Agro-based industrial effluents offers an opportunity for a NAMA, the
characterization as renewal energy enterprise, GHG emission reduction
venture, nutrient yield and water recovery offers the greatest co-benefit

Cont
 Growth in agro- based industries in Kenya means continues
supply of feedstock for Agro-based Industrial effluent ; Meat
and dairy production grew by 5.7% in 2010/11, Canned
vegetables fruits and fats grew by 3.1%, sugar and
confectionaries dropped by 5.5%, Leather and footwear
grew by 4.9%
 If there is potential increase in industrial effluents, there is
need for equivalent expansion of the ETPs. Or innovating to
utilize more of the agrobased industrial effluents.
 Energy demand; In the year 2011, the domestic demand for
electricity grew by 9% from 5,754.7 million Kilowatts (KW) in
2010 to 6,273.6 KW in Kenya. quantity of petroleum products
imported in 2011 expanded by 14.1%

cont
 alternative sources of energy ,of which agro-based industrial sources
offers great potential, need for research & investment in renewable
energy
› For energy production the s cope is available for methane
generation and capture and use in cooking ,electricity
generation ,gasification of sludge for producing synthesis gas
and direct heating of steam to generate heat and electricity
production
 Commercialisation of bio energy- plenty of feedstock in 6 sectors i.e
› coffee pulp processing, cut flower wastes, tea waste(in instant
tea production) sisal production ,sugar production, pineapple
solid waste, chicken manure, milk processing and meat
processing ,and distillery stillage

Policy & legislative
landscape
 Agriculture,Energy,Industry,Water and Environment sector were
considered as priority sectors for agro-based industrial effluents, they
are either producers of agro-based industrial effluent (agriculture&
Industry),regulators ( Environment & water) ,beneficiary of value
addition (Energy, Industry & Agriculture)
 Environment Management and Coordination Act of 1999, now
under amendment, The Water Act 2002, The Energy Act 2006,The
Public Health Act Cap 242,The Industrial Act 2006, Energy Act
2006,The Local Government Act Cap 265, , The Agriculture Act Cap
318 revised 2002, and the Fisheries Act Cap 378.
 Environment Policy (draft),Water Policy 2002,Energy Policy
2006,Industrial Policy, 2006, Agriculture sector strategy 2010/2020

Cont
 Water Act 2002( Water rules 2006) & EMCA No 8 of 1999(water
quality regulations 2006) are basically regulatory in nature
,emphasizing on compliance with regulation & standards,
› License fee
› Emphases on enforcement & penalty
› Requires end of the pipe discharge meets set standards
› no provision for value addition
› Command and control approach
› Low compliance assistance
 no specific reference to agro -based industrial effluents handling,
Water Rules refers to effluents in general and do not provide specific
mention of providing works or plants which would otherwise be used
in methane recovery and biogas, nutrient recovery or recycling of
the ETP discharge recovery of water for other uses, and more
recently packaging the plant for carbon credit financing within the
Clean development mechanism of the UNFCCC.

cont
 Energy Act 2006,Industrial Act 2006, & agriculture sector strategy
2010/2020 are indeed forward looking with respect to recognizing the
potential in value addition of agro- based industrial effluents &
 Energy Act 2006: Part V exclusively dedicated to renewable energy,
energy efficiency,-
 Develop strategies for promotion and development of
renewable energy technologies including biomass, biodiesel,
bioethanol, charcoal, fuelwood, solar, wind, tidal waves,
hydropower, biogas and municipal waste.
 providing an enabling framework for efficient sustainable
production ,distribution and marketing of renewable sources of
Energy. & Promoting Research and development and local
capacity ,technological and human.
 harness opportunities offered by clean development
mechanism ,and do not limit to carbon credits in the compliance
market, but those involuntary market and other bilateral
platforms,

cont
 Industrial Act 2006 & (Industrial Policy 2006)
 The Industrial policy has emerged as one of the most
forward looking with respect to value addition to the
agro-based industrial effluents. And indentified 3
sectors for policy enhancement ;; Water and
sewerage sector, cleaner production technology
and green production technologies.
 On Water and sewerage –the act intends to
promote public private sector partnership in
provision of water and waste management
system, including water recycling and provide
incentives for construction and fabrication of
effluent treatment plants and solid waste
management in industrial areas

› . On cleaner production, the policy intends to
promote investment in cleaner production
equipment along with other technologies,
› develop a national cleaner production strategy and
mainstream the operation of cleaner production
center in the state department responsible for
industrialization.
› On green energy, the policy intends to promote the
manufacture of affordable green energy
equipments including solar panels, Windmills,
digesters, cookers, refrigerators and micro-hydro
generators, promote energy efficiency by facilitating
investment in energy saving technologies

cont
 Agriculture Act Cap 318 ( agriculture sector
strategy 2010/2020
 Agriculture sector strategy has captured the
aspect of agro-based industrial effluent well ,
 it recognizes the agro-based industrial effluents as
priority policy concern in order to enhance value
addition to agro-based effluents , the sector has
identified the following areas for policy concern
› Inadequate research and development in the
area of utilization of agricultural waste
› Week or no policy on agro-based industrial
effluents
› Low support to agro-based industries in the
area of value addition and advances in the
areas of sustainability and waste minimization
including cleaner production

cont
 The following measures have been proposed in the
agricultural sector strategy 2010-2020 as possible areas of
future policy focus and decision.
› Mainstreaming agro-based Industrial effluent
management in government policies and plans
› Enhance Research and development
 Institute measures of making Value addition to the
agro-based industrial effluent management affordable
› Initiate a network of network of Key players in the sector
in order to start dialoguing and exchange of expertise
and experience.

Cont
 EIA & EA regulation 200
› Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) was one of
the pioneer regulation (gazette notice 101) gazetted
by NEMA in the year 2003
› aim of the regulation was to streamline
environmental concerns into development at
planning stage
› From the database t is worth noting there is increase
in application of agro-based related established and
the need to mainstream value addition in agro-
based ETP at EIA approval stage.

 Environment Audit
 The Authority receives initial environment and self audit
reports from operators of different enterprises elaborating
regularly on how the Environmental Management plan or
system is being implemented
 All the key agrobased facilities are logged in the NEMA
database, the reference number for the EA is
harmonized for all legislation
 The review process would help mainstream requirement
for value addition on agro-based industrial effluents
management systems in the improvement orders.

› Currently the Audit process do not require provision for
any innovation as part of the specification of audit
improvement orders,
› EA provides one of the best opportunities for making those
provision a requirements for the Agrobased industrial
effluent treatment plants, this would help mainstreaming
Water Quality Regulation 2006
› Water quality Regulation was gazetted under Environment
Management Coordination Act No 8 of 1999 and aims at
regulating the discharge of effluent into the environment.
› Regulation has procedures and standards of discharges,
procedures of application and licensing.
› the Authority issues Effluent Discharge License (EDL).This
regulation is significant in controlling discharges into the
water

1.Stillage from the
plant
2.Biogas digester &
methane capture
membrane
3.Pump taking gas
to the boiler
1
2
2
3

1. Feedstock area of
the biogas plant
2. 2.hydrolisis(digest
er)
3. 3.gasbag
4. 4.gasbag house
5. Generator for
electricity
&cooker
1 2
3
4
5

Lessons learnt from the
facilities in Kenya.
 Facility 1 Agrochemical food company- starting with a BOD of
80,000cm³ bringing it to 5,000 cm³ still beyond standard
 An internal to monitor the level of effluents at all stategy
 Company saving ksh 20 million per month
 Sludge not utilized – water not recovered because of the stubborn
brown colour of caramel
 Technology imported
 Facility 2-slaughter house
 Sludge collected by farmers
 Supply of gas and electricity 1 km surrounding
 Collaboration-Research Institute, state actors & multilateral
organizations
 Generator brought from Germany
 Informal management/incentivise use of sludge.

Challenges for technology
uptake
 Old legislations and policies that require review in order to
capture the technology & innovation related to value
addition for agro- based industrial effluents
 Concept of compliance assistance lacks in the
legislation ,the only way value addition to the sector can
be mainstreamed in the pollution control laws
 Low capital investment in compliance assistance,
promotion of technology and innovation ,skill development
and equipment
 Regulatory agencies approach to compliance and
enforcement is mainly ‘Command and control’, the
incentive based approach to compliance promotion is
hardly employed
 technology transfer and innovation uptake is low the
reason could be because the green technology &
technology switch is too expensive.

cont
 several sectoral laws cover the Agro-based
industrial effluents responsibilities to the respective
lead agencies. This calls for harmonization.
 Double licensing is an issue as the regulated
constituency reports ,that alongside NEMA
discharge license they are required to buy permits
from WARMA
 Continued charges to those with good practices an
have met the standards, as they continue to pay
for the discharge license, they become
demotivated
 numerous technologies been marketed by private
companies, including those on value addition,
there is need to develop a framework for
verification and advise

cont
 The regulators are not paying attention to the opportunity
on co-benefits such as methane capture, GHG removal,
electricity generation, sludge recovery and formulation into
biofertiliser, heat recovery, and water recycling these are
hardly noticed and encouraged
 Companies have unique and exceptional difficulties that
may require unique understanding and handling for
example the tea and sugar industry is experiencing a unique
difficulty in dealing with effluents colour, and very high BODs
for example the AFCL BOD at intake of the ETP is 80,000 cm³.
 The linkage between the private sector manning ETPs with
the research institutions and Universities is not particularly
strong,
 There is low capital availability for investment in value
addition technologies. Since some of the value additions are
capable of creating new business opportunities,

cont
 Most of the technology exist offshore and therefore
have to be imported. Those that are available
locally require publicizing.
 The private sector where rudimentary technology
seems to exist lacks internal communication and
exchange of experience and expertise
 Currently there is no clear information on innovators
and those involved in marketing of these
technologies
 Low publication of opportunity for co-benefits such
as methane capture, GHG removal, electricity
generation, sludge recovery and formulation into
biofertiliser, heat recovery, and water recycling.

Conclusion &
recommendation
 Policy environment in Kenya is favorable ,Vision 2030,
has identified environment as key component of the
social pillar, waste management has been isolated as a
flagship
 Kenya is a middle income economy with a number of
agro-based Industries, that continues to generate large
volumes of agro-based industrial effluents
 Some attempts and good practices are available in
Kenya ,some facilities have attempted value addition
in effluent treatment through, nutrient recovery, and
methane extraction and emission reduction
 Value addition for Agro-based industrial effluent
technologies is not popularly adopted. In order to
create enabling environment for technology transfer
 NEMA database on Water quality and EIA/EA licensing
yielded a total of 1789 registrations of which
approximately 300 could be classified as agro-based

 Constitution of Kenya recently enacted has necessitated
the review of legislations, Policies and plans to be in line This
provides opportunity for mainstreaming agro-based effluent
management issues in the laws and policies.
 In climate change mitigation, the National climate change
action plan has identified renewal energy sector, smart
agriculture.
 Developing Agro-based Industrial effluent management as
a NAMA provides an opportunity for developing the sector.
 The characterization as renewal energy enterprise,
GHG emission reduction venture, agro- based effluent
management can be promoted for carbon credit
finance in the JCM platform
 Some entities that have made significant progress in
this area, are the sugar Industry. Biomass waste of
sugar agro-processes

Cont
 Trial at one of the slaughterhouse in Kenya have shown
promising results for biogas use for cooking, lighting and
production of electricity.
 Commercial biogas potential from agro-based waste
exist in six major agro processing areas namely, coffee
pulp processing, cut flower wastes, tea waste(in instant
and sugar processing
 some of the barriers for biogas technology uptake has
been documented as; high cost of installation, high
failure rate, inadequate post installation support, poor
management and maintenance, inadequate
technology, scarce and fragmented promotional
activities