The effects of President Uhuru Kenyatta’s ban on scrap metal dealings have already started being felt with a Sh1 billion local battery manufacturing plant warning of imminent closure.
The move by the Associated Battery Manufacturers (ABM) is likely to render thousands of families who depend on it for livelihood jobless.
Mr Guy Jack, ABM’s chief executive, warned that the firm’s recycling plant in Athi River, where old batteries are recycled back into pure lead and reusable plastics, will close due to lack of raw materials.
“ABM, with a direct and indirect employee base of several thousand people, looks set to close shortly due to lack of raw materials,” Mr Jack said adding; “unless the president’s directive banning the export of scrap metal is clarified to local authorities.”
The manufacturer has blamed the scarcity of raw materials to incorrect interpretation of the Presidents ban of scrap metals by enforcement agencies, including devolved governments.
Mr Jack’s fears is an indication that the president’s directive will hit hard local traders currently operating in the scrap material sector.
Mr Kenyatta put a moratorium on the export, the buying or selling of any scrap material until proper guidelines are put in place to regulate the sector.
The presidential ban on export of scrap metal followed an increase in the number of vandalism mainly on power lines across the country.
“What has happened is local authorities, city councils and police have incorrectly interpreted the export ban, and assume it applies to local movement, which it does not,” Mr Guy said.
Mr Guy said the Athi River-based recycling plant normally used to receive 2,000 tons per month of lead, sourced from used car and solar batteries which it collected and recycled back into pure lead.
“But the plant has received next to nothing since the presidential directive was issued. ABM has invested well over Sh1 billion in the last 3 years, all riding on the back of secure raw material availability,” Mr Guy said.
He said ABM’s key raw material is scrap batteries sourced from all over the country and delivered to the Athi River plant for recycling.
Mr Guy said whereas the presidential directive banning the export of scrap was long overdue, the misinterpretation of the orders spells doom to multi-billion shillings investments.
“The position has adversely affected multiple industries who rely solely on recycled materials as their key input, all of whom are now also faced with the imminent threat of closure if the directive is not clarified correctly. The demand to clarify the directive has been challenged by multiple industries and associations,” Mr Guy said.
He wants the government to strictly enforce the Scrap Metals Act to cut out unscrupulous dealers.
“The ban protects our essential raw material, but what has happened is local authorities have interpreted the directive as a ban on any movement of scrap within the country,” Mr Guy said.
He said globally, the export of scrap is unusual, as it is the feed stock for recycling in multiple industries, all of whom create employment and local value.
Lead and glass are two of few materials that can be recycled indefinitely and as a result the greater majority of automotive batteries manufactured around the world are made using recycled lead.
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