NEMA Makes Several Arrests in Crackdown Targeting Some Businesses

Jukwaa

🇰🇪 Breaking It Down

NEMA's environmental inspectors moved in after spotting the open burning activity at the facility, making arrests on the spot in what the authority described as a straightforward violation of Kenyan environmental law on May 26.

“NEMA environmental inspectors yesterday arrested two persons found burning tyres in the open at Sihaam Limited in Rongai, Kajiado County,” stated NEMA.

The authority noted that open burning of tyres is prohibited in the country and directly contributes to the degradation of ambient air quality, posing serious health risks to residents living near such industrial sites.

📌 What You Need to Know

The two suspects, whose identities have not been publicly disclosed, were apprehended at the scene in what NEMA confirmed was one of its latest enforcement actions under the newly enacted Air Quality Regulations, 2024.

The Air Quality Regulations, 2024 stipulate that if anyone seeks to burn tyre wastes, they ought to do it under the supervision of NEMA, and should be done in a designated, equipped NEMA facility, making it clear that individuals and companies have no legal authority to handle hazardous waste on their own terms.

One such approved facility is Uptex East Africa Limited in Kitengela, Kajiado County, which holds a NEMA licence to operate a recyclable waste transfer station that serves both industrial and domestic clients.

Tononoka Paper Ltd in Embakasi,Nairobi is another facility that handles paper and cotton waste under NEMA approval, while Kitengela Hot Glass in Kajiado repurposes discarded scrap glass and transforms it into commercially viable products.

For more hazardous materials like asbestos, NEMA has set aside specialised deep-burial landfills, including Quality Inspection Services Limited in Kilifi and Jali Ecosystems Limited in Murang'a, both operating under strict containment protocols.

NEMA says these licensed facilities exist precisely to prevent incidents like the one in Rongai, adding that public cooperation in reporting unlawful waste burning is just as important as on-the-ground enforcement.

📰 Source: Kenyans.co.ke

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