Greenpeace Africa Pushes Kenya Toward a Refill Revolution as Festival Spotlights Real Alternatives to Plastic Waste
By Peace Muthoka.
Nairobi, Kenya — As Kenya continues to grapple with the rising tide of plastic pollution, Greenpeace Africa is urging the government to adopt ambitious refill and reuse targets that could transform the country’s packaging landscape and ease the financial pressure caused by single-use waste.
The call came during the launch of the inaugural Refill and Reuse Festival at the National Museums of Kenya, a vibrant, community-centred event designed to showcase practical, culturally rooted alternatives to disposable plastics. The festival also offered a platform for Greenpeace Africa to amplify its long-running campaign against what it describes as a costly “throwaway culture” driven largely by corporate interests.
Hellen Kahaso Dena, the Project Lead for the Pan African Plastics Project at Greenpeace Africa, set the tone for the gathering with a reminder that refill culture is not new to the continent. It is the modern packaging industry, she argued, that disrupted long-standing traditions of reuse.
“Refill and reuse systems are not new to Africa. They are rooted in our culture and have existed since time immemorial,” Dena said, reflecting on how everyday practices of the past offer practical solutions for today’s environmental challenges. “What is new is the invasion of single-use plastics pushed by corporations prioritising profit over people and planet. Governments must invest in refill infrastructure and set clear targets that make reuse the norm, not the exception.”
She added that the economic burden of single-use plastics is far greater than most citizens realise. “Throwaway culture is expensive. Countries spend billions of dollars to clean up drainage systems, build incinerators, clean rivers, and cover health expenses linked to plastic pollution.”
Greenpeace Africa’s presence at the festival reaffirmed its leadership in Africa’s environmental justice movement. The organisation has spent years challenging governments and corporations over plastic pollution through research, protests, public campaigns, and community mobilisation. Its work consistently pushes for solutions that place human health and environmental protection ahead of commercial interests, making the refill and reuse agenda central to its advocacy.
At the festival, Plastics Campaigner Gerance Mutwol underscored the organisation’s concerns about the illusion of recycling. He argued that recycling has been used as a loophole to justify continued production. “Recycling is a distraction that allows corporations to keep producing more plastic while shifting responsibility to consumers and governments,” he said. Mutwol warned that the danger of plastic waste lingers far beyond its use. “Plastics persist in the environment throughout their lifecycle, leaching harmful chemicals into our soil, water, and bodies. Refill and reuse systems prevent plastic pollution at the source. They conserve resources, create jobs, and protect public health.”
The two-day festival, themed “Experience, Refill, Reuse: A Sustainable Lifestyle for All,” was crafted to capture the interest of Kenyans of all ages. Families, students, artists, innovators, and policymakers took part in hands-on refill stations, zero-waste exhibitions, and demonstrations of traditional African reuse practices centred on resourcefulness. Children engaged in upcycling art competitions, while the second day featured live music, poetry, storytelling circles, and a lively refill challenge with prizes. All activities were designed to make sustainability both accessible and inspiring.
Organisers explained that the festival aims to shift public perception by showing that refill and reuse options are practical, affordable, and aligned with deeply rooted African values of community responsibility and mindful consumption. These values, they said, should guide the country’s future environmental policies.
Admission to the festival remained free on both days to encourage maximum participation, a decision organisers said reflects their belief that sustainability should be inclusive and accessible to everyone.
As Greenpeace Africa continues its continent-wide work to expose environmental threats and promote long-term solutions, the organisation says it remains committed to holding governments and corporations accountable. Through activism, public engagement, and strategic communication, it aims to promote solutions essential to a green and peaceful future. The Refill and Reuse Festival brought that vision to life, one refill at a time.
