Kenya banned plastic luggage 6 years in the past, however they’re nonetheless in use – what went improper

Kenya banned the use of plastic carrier bags in 2017, prompted by environmental and well being prices. On the time, greater than 100 million single-use plastic luggage have been handed out yearly, making them essentially the most generally used provider luggage for procuring. Most merchants and finish customers have complied with the ban, however the luggage have never been completely eliminated. Jane Mutheu Mutune, who researches on environmental governance and administration, displays on the coverage hits and misses – and the alternatives to do higher.

Why have been plastic provider luggage banned and what are the penalties?

Discarded plastic provider luggage have been a visual downside throughout Kenya. This was not only a menace to the environment – it additionally contributed to well being points for each inland and aquatic animals. Human well being was affected, too. Plastic luggage clogged water drains and proliferated mosquito-borne illnesses like malaria, and the burning of plastic luggage has been related to the discharge of chemical compounds with carcinogenic results. A study sanctioned by the National Environment Management Agency in 2018 discovered that fifty% of livestock slaughtered in Nairobi’s abattoirs had ingested plastic luggage.

The ban got here with a jail term of four years or a fantastic of Sh4 million (US$29,300) for offenders. Initially, the ban was greeted with cynicism as a result of the federal government had tried before to ban plastic luggage. A ban that focused light-weight provider luggage with a thickness of lower than 30 microns proved exhausting to control. The present ban covers all single-use plastic provider luggage. Nevertheless, it exempts supplies used for industrial main packaging, disposable luggage for dealing with of biomedical and dangerous waste, and rubbish bin liners.

The Kenya Affiliation of Producers had opposed the ban on the grounds that it could wipe out 60,000 jobs. The affiliation claimed on the time that the ban would drive the closure of 176 producers and deny the nation income from plastic bag exports.

No correct buildings of monitoring have been put in place to trace the environmental advantages of banning plastic provider luggage for an correct before-and-after image. This lack of scientific proof makes it tougher to watch progress or reveal the advantages.

What’s the degree of compliance?

Plastic provider luggage by no means actually fully disappeared from the beginning. The federal government’s personal evaluation two years after the ban positioned compliance at 80%. This was revised to 95% two years later in 2021.

However merchants might nonetheless entry plastic bag carriers six years after the ban. Quite a few infringements have been reported from time to time. As not too long ago as April 2023, the Nairobi county authorities warned in regards to the continued use of banned luggage by merchants within the capital.

On this proof, the usage of banned luggage in petty commerce has endured. My study in 2019 discovered that small merchants in Nairobi’s casual settlement of Kibera continued to make use of banned luggage. These merchants included meals distributors, petty retailers and wholesalers. On the time, 30% of these interviewed in Kibera supported the ban. Within the neighbouring wealthy suburb of Karen, assist stood at 60%.

What should Kenya do to make the coverage successful?

Eliminating plastic provider luggage is simply the tip of the iceberg. The ban was partial – affecting secondary packaging solely – as producers use plastic packaging for a variety of shopper items, resembling bread and processed meats.

Plastic bottles used for carbonated delicate drinks, fruit juices, dilutable drinks and water are one other downside. They have been to be banned after the provider luggage, however that has not occurred but attributable to court docket instances attributed to insufficient stakeholder consultations. As a substitute such bottles have been prohibited in nationwide parks, forests and seashores in 2020.

As such, plastic air pollution stays a problem. Plastic waste administration in Kenya is basically casual – it’s collected by hand, sorted and packed on the market to recyclers. Volumes might enhance regularly after the 2019/20 price range provided incentives for plastic recycling by exempting VAT and company tax cuts for brand new recycling crops.

To bolster these efforts, Kenya can also be transferring in the direction of imposing extended producer responsibility for the waste. This implies producers could be made to imagine accountability for the complete life cycle of the plastics they put into the market.

What about bringing the general public on board?

Research have proven that the extra instances a product can be utilized, the lower the environmental impact. Subsequently, it’s not sufficient for customers to change to reusable procuring luggage. They need to additionally decide to reusing them and keep away from littering.

A 2021 Kenyan study discovered that the possession of reusable luggage tripled to 12 luggage per family on common for the reason that ban. However customers have been disposing reusable luggage too prematurely to attain the optimum environmental advantages.

Going ahead, the federal government ought to have interaction the general public extra. Change is within the mindset and as soon as you alter the mindset, compliance turns into simpler. The messaging across the influence of plastic on the surroundings needs to be clear, focused and justified.

Simply as essential is environmental training, which is a pathway to perspective change and a way of accountability. Environmental training needs to be built-in in all ranges of the training system to boost folks’s sensitivity to sustainability considerations. This may create champions and brokers of change for sustainable growth.

Elmah Odhiambo contributed to the analysis on which this text is partly primarily based.