Ban on single-use plastics in all Kenya’s protected areas including its beaches, national parks, conservation areas, and forests will take effect this Friday.
The ban on plastics in the protected areas deadline was announced by President Uhuru Kenyatta last year during the Women Deliver 2019 Conference in Vancouver, Canada.
The President told the meeting that the ban would be effected on June 5,2020.
Sustainable Inclusive Business (SIB) Kenya in its newly launched trends report shows an 80 percent success rate and reduced polythene bags along the country’s coastlines, parks and drainages.
According to the report, effecting the ban is a logical next step in reducing the amount of unsustainably disposed plastics; after the 2017 ban on throw away carrier bags.
“This comes at a time when we see an increase in single-use plastic products, and the ban will go a long way in encouraging the adoption of the refuse, rethink, re-manufacture, recycle, and recover model of production,” noted Sustainable Inclusive Business Director Karin Boomsma.
Plastic production is expected to double over the next 20 years, most of which will be single use packaging material.
The report provides more insights into the implications of the Kenyan single-use plastic ban on the economy, planet and people, and how businesses both small and established can prepare for alternatives.
The ban on single use plastics places Kenya among the first movers in a trend towards a cleaner and healthier environment globally.
Other African countries in the frontline of eliminating the use of single-use plastics with combined total bans and levy on retailers include Rwanda and South Africa.
With Kenya being one of the fastest-growing economies in Sub-Saharan Africa, the landfill menace is expected to expand faster, posing both environmental and health risks to the country and its people.
“If well implemented, the ban on single-use plastics will profit public health, tourism and agriculture, among others by ensuring a cleaner environment with less plastic pollution, a factor beneficial not only to human health, but also to biodiversity and will make Kenya’s tourism destinations more appealing for both domestic and foreign travelers,” SIB said in a statement.
The report highlights three megatrends preceding the single use plastic ban.
These include the need to shift towards the circular economy, the need for businesses to adopt a more holistic approach in their relationship with nature and the need to deal with externalities such as plastic waste pollution, emissions or the depletion of resources.
