Kenya imposes world's toughest law against plastic bags
Kenya imposed law against plastic bags
The East African nation joins more than 40 other countries that have banned, partly banned or taxed single use plastic bags, including China, France, Rwanda, and Italy
Kenyans producing, selling or even usingplasticbagswill risk imprisonment of up to four years or fines of $40,000 from Monday, as theworld'stoughestlawaimed at reducingplasticpollution came into effect.
The East African nation joins more than 40 other countries that have banned, partly banned or taxed single useplasticbags, including China, France, Rwanda, and Italy.
Manybagsdrift into the ocean, strangling turtles, suffocating seabirds and filling the stomachs of dolphins and whales with waste until they die of starvation.
"If we continue like this, by 2050, we will have moreplasticin the ocean than fish," said Habib El-Habr, an expert on marine litter working with the U.N. Environment Programme inKenya.
Plasticbags, which El-Habr says take between 500 to 1,000 years to break down, also enter the human food chain through fish and other animals. In Nairobi's slaughterhouses, some cows destined for human consumption had 20bagsremoved from their stomachs.
"This is something we didn't get ten years ago but now it's almost on a daily basis," said county vet Mbuthi Kinyanjui as he watched men in bloodied white uniforms scoop soddenplasticbags from the stomachs of cow carcasses.
Kenya'slawallows police to go after anyone even carrying aplasticbag. But Judy Wakhungu, Kenya's environment minister, said enforcement would initially be directed at manufacturers and suppliers.
"Ordinary wananchi will not be harmed," she told Reuters, using a Kiswahili word for "common man".
It tookKenyathree attempts over ten years to finally pass the ban, and not everyone is a fan.
Samuel Matonda, a spokesman for theKenyaAssociation of Manufacturers, said it would cost 60,000 jobs and force 176 manufacturers to close.Kenyais a major exporter ofplasticbagsto the region.
"The knock-on effects will be very severe," Matonda said.
"It will even affect the women who sell vegetables in the market, how will their customers carry their shopping home?"
BigKenyan supermarket chains like France's Carrefour <CARR.PA> and Nakumatt has already started offering customers clothbagsas alternatives.