The Kenyan press is reporting “an outcry” over a ban on all plastic bags coming into effect today.
Traders have been left with huge stocks of the now banned carrier bags, reports Kenya’s Citizen TV.
It adds that customers complain that the alternatives to plastic bags are too costly.
The Kenyan government’s decision in 2017 to ban plastic bags made international news – with the New York Times calling it “one of the world’s toughest bans”.
It reported at the time that Kenya will punish with up to four years in jail anyone making, selling or importing plastic bags or hand out a fine of up to $19,000.
Since then, shops issued alternative bags. But the authorities are enforcing the ban on these too from today as they are not made out of woven natural material.
According to ReusethisBag.com – a US supplier of reusable bags – at least 32 countries around the world have plastic bag bans in place, with nearly half of the bans in Africa
Environmental activist James Wakibia told BBC World Hacks in 2018 that plastic bags clog drains leading to increased mosquito swarms and, as a result, bouts of malaria.
