Mainstreaming the Culture of Eco-Industrial Parks (EIPs) in Kenya for the Sustainable Realization of the Country’s Vision 2030

Competitive and productive Special Economic Zones (SEZs)/ industrial Parks (IPs) of the future will be those that will abandon the wasteful linear development model and instead embrace a circular economy that is characterized with the circular flow of materials and energy. Doing this will not only lower pressure on the use of the country’s virgin raw materials but also contribute to the reduced carbon footprint of the SEZs/IPs by helping to divert wastes from the landfill. This paper investigated the spontaneous evolution of waste and by-product exchange at the agro-processing and garment clusters of the Athi River SEZ. These cluster based material exchanges evolved on their own largely as a result of the prevailing forces of material supply and demand. Though at its infancy, this emergency of industrial symbiosis at the economic zone has helped to demonstrate the social inclusion dimension of green growth through the creation of decent green jobs. The practice has also enabled participating firms to reduce their GHG emissions and lower their operational costs. The economic zone’s desire to fully embrace waste recovery, reuse and recycling as part of its deliberate efforts of advancing the ideals of a circular economy is currently being hampered by a lack of functional waste recovery, reuse, and recycling infrastructure. The proposed strengthening of University-Industry-Government (U-I-G) collaboration at the Athi River SEZ, will help promote eco-innovation that forms the cornerstone of the economic zone’s improved productivity and competitiveness. The paper sought to unravel the enabling policy interventions that need to be put in place so as to accelerate the transformation of the country’s economic zones into environmentally friendly Eco-Industrial Parks (EIPs) capable of attracting green foreign direct investments (FDIs). It also tackled the barriers that need to be overcome by key stakeholders so that the country’s SEZs/ IPs can adopt a development trajectory that enjoys low-emission levels, efficiently uses its resources, and is socially inclusive through the creation of decent green jobs.