More than a decade after a lead-acid battery recycling plant was shut in Kenya’s coastal settlement of Owino Uhuru, residents say they are still living with the health and economic consequences of toxic exposure, even as Africa’s push for cleaner energy risks creating similar dangers elsewhere. The issue has drawn fresh attention after the Associated Press reported that the rapid spread of off-grid solar systems and battery storage across the continent is sharply increasing demand for battery recycling, much of it in informal or poorly regulated settings.
For survivors such as Faith Muthama, the damage has been lasting. Muthama, 40, said life has never returned to normal after tests in 2012 showed dangerously high lead levels in her blood. Residents trace the contamination to 2007, when Kenya Metal Refineries EPZ, a local subsidiary of an India-linked company, operated a lead-acid battery recycling plant inside the community. Toxic waste from the facility, residents say, seeped into the soil and water, contributing to widespread illness and more than 20 deaths before the plant was shut in 2014.
The case has become a symbol of both environmental injustice and weak enforcement. In 2025, Kenya’s Supreme Court upheld roughly $12 million in damages for about 3,000 residents, a rare legal victory for victims of industrial pollution. But activists say compensation has been slow, leaving many victims still struggling to pay for treatment. Human Rights Watch and Kenyan media have previously described the judgment as a landmark ruling that reinforced the “polluter pays” principle and the right to a clean and healthy environment.
Experts warn the broader threat is growing. AP, citing a February report by the Centre for Global Development, said the continent’s clean-energy expansion is likely to send many more lead-acid batteries into the recycling stream. Because safe recycling is expensive, informal recyclers often use crude methods that release lead into the air, soil and water. Lead exposure is especially dangerous for children, with studies across Africa and South Asia suggesting that between one-third and one-half have elevated blood lead levels.
The challenge now is not whether Africa should expand energy access, but whether it can do so without repeating the mistakes of Owino Uhuru. Campaigners say safer recycling systems, stricter regulation and clearer supply-chain accountability are urgently needed before the continent’s renewable-energy transition leaves behind a new generation of pollution victims.
