The National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) on Thursday, January 12, sounded a warning to Kenyans over the resurgence of single-use plastic bags in the country.
In a statement seen by Kenyans.co.ke, the government agency announced that it had resumed the crackdown on defiant traders using the banned bags to package household items.
A team of officials from NEMA arrested eight traders in Kisumu who were caught with the outlawed bags.
"The Authority will continue to enforce the ban to ensure a clean and safe environment countrywide," read a statement by NEMA in part.
According to the authority, traders selling rice and sugar were the leading flouters of the embargo on single-use plastic bags.
The eight, according to NEMA, were waiting to be arraigned in court for the contravention.
Speaking after the exercise, Moses Ombogo stated that the government was probing into the possibility that the bags were entering Kenya from Uganda through the Western Kenya border towns.
While speaking to the press, the NEMA enforcer reiterated that there were no companies involved in the manufacturing of such bags - leading to the conclusion that the bags were imported.
The NEMA officials warned members of the public to resist the temptations of using the outlawed plastics to avoid facing the wrath of the law.
“The message we are telling the public is that this ban has been in force since 2017. Kenya is a plastic-free country and we are asking members of the public to desist from their use,” Ombogo stated.
In 2017, the government banned the use of single-use plastics in a move aimed at reducing the menace posed by uncontrolled garbage emanating from disposed plastic bags.
Five years later, the Kenya Plastic Pact (KPP) petitioned President William Ruto to ban more plastic material in what they termed as a move to save the environment.
