By REBECCA WANGARI
Avocado processors in Murang’a have been urged to embrace recycling to curb environmental pollution caused by waste from their factories.
Environment, Climate Change and Forestry Cabinet Secretary Dr Deborah Barasa said avocado waste could be converted into useful products while protecting communities from the health and environmental risks associated with poor disposal practices.
Barasa led the Senate Committee on Environment in inspecting some of the factories following an outcry from residents over poor waste disposal, which they said had become a nuisance.
The residents claimed that the factories, which are located within residential areas, had been dumping avocado waste, producing a pungent smell that made their stay unbearable.
Barasa said processors should embrace a circular economy by putting the waste to other uses, including producing fertiliser for use on farms.
“What we have here is not waste but organic matter which can be converted to fertiliser and supplied to farmers, and it would help boost food production,” Barasa said.
“The challenge we have is having the waste dumped and not used because it produces greenhouse gases and thus makes it an environmental hazard,” she added.
She said processors and residents needed to be equipped with skills on how to convert the waste into a resource that could generate additional income.
Murang’a Senator Joe Nyutu, who had raised the issue in the Senate, said the environmental safety of residents was more important, calling for the matter to be addressed urgently.
Nyutu expressed concern over a particular site at an abandoned quarry where waste fluid from one of the factories had been flowing. He said the site was not fenced, posing a major threat to members of the public.
He further said the waste was causing water pollution downstream, with farmers reporting that their crops were drying up.
“The issue that should be addressed first is the environmental safety of the people living around these factories even before thinking of how to recycle the waste,” Nyutu said.
Committee chairperson Mohamed Faki said residents had a right to a clean and safe environment and called for stronger efforts to transform waste into wealth.
He emphasised that although avocado processing generates large volumes of waste, emerging innovations could enable processors to reuse it in producing valuable agricultural inputs.
“The key concern is environmental safety, both for the people and land, and we want measures put in place to curb the pollution,” Faki said.
