A Glimpse into the Severest Plastic Ban in the World
A Quick Summary
What lead to the ban
That plastic has become a health and environmental scourge is manifest.
Plastic harms 600 marine species every year. It also causes clogging of drains leading to aggravation of floods.
Plastic takes 1000 years to decompose leading to degradation of soil quality.
Burning of plastic releases toxins into the air.
Foam plastic food containers contain benzene and styrene which are known to cause cancer and other health complications.
It is because of this that on 28th August 2017, Kenya banned the use of plastic carrier bags and plastic flat bags. However, exempted from this ban are plastic bags used for primary industrial packaging. The government had provided a six month grace period to manufacturers and traders dealing in bags used for commercial and household packaging to prepare for this drastic change.
The penalty for breaching this ban is a $40,000 fine or a four-year jail term. This makes the ban on plastic bags in Kenya the severest in the world.
It all started with a hashtag
In 2015, James Wakibia started a social media campaign on Twitter with the hashtag #banplasticsKE. Wakibia had not set out to become an environmental activist but the egregious plastic pollution in his hometown, Nakuru, prompted him to do something.
The cabinet secretary of Environment and Natural Resources, Prof. Judi Wakhungu caught wind of this campaign. Her support escalated this campaign into an actual gazetted plastic ban two years later.
There was a court petition to lift the ban
The Kenya Association of Manufacturers, traders dealing in plastic bags and activists went to court to challenge the ban. But the good news is the court upheld the ban. They complained that the ban would lead to economic losses including 80,000 jobs and that there was not enough public participation.
But has the ban been effective?
Good news:
There is not yet any statistical evidence of this but, thanks to the ban the streets are cleaner, waterways are less obstructed and the number of cows ingesting plastic bags has reduced as told by David Ong?are, the enforcement director of the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) in an interview with the Guardian.
Bad news:
It’s been just one year since the ban. However, there have been cases of plastic carrier bags being smuggled into the country from the neighbouring Uganda. This constitutes a major blow to the touted ban.
There has been an estimated layoff of 100,000 workers due to the ban according to Samuel Matonda of the Kenyan Association of Manufacturers. He feels that more exemptions from the ban should be allowed and the government should invest more in waste management strategies.
References
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/apr/25/nairobi-clean-up-highs-lows-kenyas-plastic-bag-ban
https://www.nation.co.ke/counties/nakuru/Nema-plastic-bags-coming-from-Uganda/1183314-4258026-13f75qyz/index.html
PS: I first published this post on Tunza Ecogeration website.Tunza Eco Generation is CSR initiative by Samsung Engineering and UNEP for raising environmental awareness in which I represent Kenya.
