EA legislative members need to push for coordinated enforcement of the regional single-use plastic carrier bags ban/Courtesy
NAIROBI, Kenya, May 30 – The Africa Chapter of International Environmental lobby group Greenpeace is calling on the Kenyan government to tighten policies and regulations on plastics and give incentives to producers that will come up with affordable alternatives to single-use plastics.
Responding to a warning issued by the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) over the return of plastic bags in the country, Greenpeace Africa’s Campaigner Amos Wemanya has said: “We should not allow unscrupulous businessmen and traders continue to take advantage of the porous Kenya-Uganda border to bring the banned plastic into Kenya.”
“The East African legislative members need to push for coordinated enforcement of the regional single-use plastic carrier bags ban to achieve the benefits of a ban,” said Wemanya
The Greenpeace statement said, “To curb the influx of contraband single-use plastics into Kenya, the government needs to improve its coordination and collaboration among various enforcement agencies including the NEMA, National Intelligence Service and police units acting both within and across borders to nab the illegal suppliers of banned single-use plastic carrier bags.
Tanzania who have recently banned single-use plastic effective June 1, 2019 will be singing from the same hymn sheet if a regional policy is not implemented.
“This will make alternatives more affordable, stimulate more production thus influencing the accessibility to small scale retailers and consumers who form the larger population that is consuming illegally acquired single-use plastic carrier bags,” said Wemanya.
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