Plastics should be banned in Kenya

Plastic bags below 60 microns are regarded as non-reusable and problematic when recycling. Environmental activists and other environment conscious people think that continued production of millions of these terrible non-biodegradable bags is a disaster in waiting.

The very thin plastic bags, some so thin they can only be used once and mostly issued by supermarkets, grocery stores and kiosks are choking our lakes and rivers. They are blocking major drainage systems in our towns and it has been proven that they are contributing to air pollution by releasing harmful carbon every time they are burned.

This happens often in Kenyan landfills where trash is thrown away. These are very alarming reports. It is vital that we stop sweeping our trash under the carpet, soon things will go haywire and we will have no one to blame except ourselves.

The question is whether we are prepared to deal with the consequences of our plastic bag filled drainage channels.

It is until we exercise a positive attitude towards our environment that we shall save our country from chocking. Banning of those very flimsy bags is the only way to go because we have failed to protect our environment by damping recklessly; the society is full of people who do not care about the environment, we have government agencies that are not doing their work and many environmental non-governmental organizations that forgot their calling.

Calling for the ban of plastic bags 60 or even 100 microns and below is the treatment that will cure this malignant tumor eating Kenya. It’s time Kenya woke up from slumber land.

The amount of plastic sheaths in our rivers is staggering. According to a news report published in one of the dailies, a total of 24 tonnes of plastic were collected in 2013 from the shores of Lake Nakuru and its surrounding conservation area.

The News report said if the status quo continued the lake will eventually be too toxic for the current aquatic life as well as herbivores that often eat the same non-biodegradable material leading to their deaths. This is only the tip of the iceberg; more damage is happening elsewhere. We have to do something as drastic as cutting or even crippling the manufacture of all those bags.

#BanPlasticsKe and #ISupportBanPlasticsKe trended in Kenya last year. In one of the many tweets and subtweets the Cabinet Secretary for Environment Professor Judy Wakhungu supported the ban of plastics and said that NEMA is already working with RETRAK on modalities.

I took that as the government position but could not understand why she would not draw up policies seeking to eliminate those plastic bags. The Cabinet Secretary should play a more active role of ensuring that every Kenyan lives in a clean and sanitary environment as enshrined on article 42 of our constitution.

The only allowable plastic bags to be manufactured in Kenya should be Reusable and easy to recycle. Anything else should be history. Kenya has a lot to learn from Rwanda.

Environmental issues are everybody’s business; the buck stops with us, its starts with you and me, don’t be first to litter.

James Wakibia is an Environmental Activist and Blogger in Nakuru