A customer carries his shopping in a cloth carrier bag in Nairobi, Kenya, Monday
Nairobi, Kenya
The Kenyan government has now enforced a complete ban on the manufacture and sale of plastic bags. Anyone found producing, selling or even using plastic bags will risk imprisonment of up to four years or fines of $40,000. The ban which came into effect on Monday 28th of August is aimed at reducing plastic pollution.Kenyan shoppers are thought to use 100 million plastic bags a year, according to the United Nations. The country joins 40 other countries that have had similar bans including Rwanda. Plastic bags are one of the worst pollutants since they take hundreds of years to decompose. Many bags drift into the ocean, strangling turtles, suffocating seabirds and filling the stomachs of dolphins and whales with waste until they die of starvation. According to a UN report, By 2050 there will be more plastic than there are fish in our oceans.
It has taken three attempts over the course of a decade to have this law passed. Not many people are pleased with that decision. Manufacturers who produce those bags risk losing their businesses as a result of the ban. Big retailers like Nakumatt and CarreFour have already switched to cloth bags instead of plastic.
Environmentalists have, however, praised the government for this decision. The landscape of the country has changed dramatically with plastic bags littering the cities, rural areas and even national parks threatening the survival of wild animals which are a huge tourist attraction and one of the largest sources of foreign revenue for the government.
This is a huge step for the country and we here at the briefing room commend the Kenyan government for implementing policies that will help not harm the environment. The Kenyan Constitution guarantees every Kenyan the right to live in a clean environment and this law will help achieve that aim.