17 March 2017
Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary for the Environment and Natural Resources Prof. Judi Wakhungu finally made public a ban on plastic bags, which will become effective on the 28th of August this year.
The ban will affect the use, production and importation of all forms of plastic bags, giving supermarkets and shops, manufacturers and importers ample notice to use up existing stocks before this type of packaging material becomes illegal to use.
Hospitality experts are now seeking alternative packaging methods to ensure stored food items remain fresh and uncontaminated but will have to dig deep to adopt such practices from other countries where similar bans have been instituted in the past.
Kenya, like many other African countries, has seen the use of plastic bags explode in recent years and the presence of millions of poorly disposed of bags across the environment – incidentally also plastic water bottles, caps and shrink wraps – has led to livestock and wildlife alike dying after ingesting plastic bags.
Conservationists were swift to praise the ban and expressed their hope that no additional grace periods will be given after the ban comes into effect.
Source: ATC News