Why carrying a water bottle at the beach could cost you millions

This man was spotted at Gioto dumpsite in Nakuru town on August 27,2017 carrying this huge load of plastic bottles he collected from the dumpsite on August 27,2017.[FILE]

Did you know that carrying single use plastics – including PET water bottles – is against the law?

A presidential directive in 2019, which was then legislated by the Cabinet Secretary for Tourism and Wildlife in 2020, instituted a ban on possession of plastics in protected areas.

The Gazette Notice number 4858 listed beaches, national parks and forests, among others, as protected areas.

“This means you can no longer carry plastics such as disposable bottles, cups, and plates to the beach,” says NEMA’s Dr Ayub Macharia.

What are you likely to suffer if you flout the rules?

According to Macharia, the law banning single use plastic papers nationally, as enacted in November 2024, would apply.

“The law – which clearly states that no one is allowed to manufacture, import, export, posses, use, or offer for sale, a plastic bag or plastic film without authorization from NEMA – prescribes two options,” he says.

If found in possession, the law calls for imprisonment for between one and four years, or pay a fine of between Sh2million and Sh4 million, or both.

“Mama mbogas and Baba mbogas (hawkers, street vendors and small scale business proprietors) must understand that these fines are written in law and they will suffer the consequences.”

However, the law allows one to apply for exemption. An exemption, he says, would be applicable in a scenario where a trader or a business can demonstrate that they have no other way of packaging their product.

He explains: “For instance, bread makers. They have applied for exemption. They have convinced the regulator that they have no other way of packaging their product.”

Even so, exemptions are not meant to be dished out haphazardly.

“In fact,” he says, “before NEMA gives the exemption it demands from the applicant a cogent plan to systematically reduce their dependence on plastic.”

A few single-use plastic items are exempted: using them would not put you in legal trouble. As captured in schedule 144 of the Environmental Management and Co-ordination Act (EMCA) regulations, they include: garbage bags, bin liners, sanitary bags, diapers and any other, ‘as NEMA would deem from time to time.’

You however do not need to be guided by law alone, offers Dr Okuku of KMFRI.

“Morally, as a person, you ought to want to contribute to the fight against plastic pollution.

“One way to achieve that would be to have one dedicated refillable water bottle. This automatically reduces your plastic footprint,” he says.

Today Kenya has adopted a law that targets corporates who drive plastic production.

“This new law, known as extended producer responsibility (EPR), calls for companies dabbling in plastic packaging to pay for removal of their plastic products, as it most certainly will end up in the environment,” says Macharia.

The EPR law, Macharia says, will over the years reduce plastic in the environment as it will fund, from the get go, waste picking.

“EPR will ensure that a manufacturer removes 100 per cent of the plastic they have put out,” he says. 

This content was produced with support from Internews’ Earth Journalism Network