President Uhuru Kenyatta on Wednesday announced a ban on all single-use plastics in all conservation areas, national parks, beaches & forests.
The Head of State made the announcement during the plenary session of the ongoing Women Deliver 2019 Conference at the Vancouver Conference Centre in Canada.
“Today we are announcing another ban on single use plastics in all our protected areas, including: National Parks, beaches, forests and conservation areas, effective 5th June, 2020,” said the President.
He stated that the ban will become effective on 5th June 2020.
President Uhuru Kenyatta
Ban on plastic in Kenya
This comes two years after Kenya outlawed the use, manufacture and sale of environmentally harmful plastics, polythene bags and packaging materials.
“As you are aware, Kenya is hosting to the global environment programme, and has remained a campaigner for a sustainable environment,” President Kenyatta stated.
“In light of this commitment, two years ago we banned the use, manufacture and sale of environmentally harmful plastics, polythene bags and packaging materials,” he added.
The President made the announcement when he addressed the plenary session of the ongoing Women Deliver 2019 Conference at the Vancouver Conference Centre in Canada.
In 2017, the ban on plastic bags came into effect after facing strong opposition from various stakeholders.
Threat of plastic bags
Data has shown that prior to the ban in 2017, up to 86,000 plastic bags were being handed out in Nairobi every day while 24 million were used in the country every month, half of them ending up in the environment due to poor disposal.
Plastics in the ocean
Experts state that plastic bags take more than 100 years to decompose, thereby posing adverse effects to the environment.
Notably, plastic bags are a major contributor to the 8.8 million plastics that leak to the seas every year, posing a threat to marine life.
