Stay at home directives and ban on social gatherings has helped in the preservation of the environment, Nema's Mombasa county director Samuel Lopokoiyit has said.
Lopokoiyit said people have adopted and taken hygiene seriously, therefore, an improvement in the preservation of the environment.
“Covid-19 has helped with personal hygiene and environmental hygiene around people’s homes and even the habit people had on littering irresponsibly has reduced,” he said.
As people also stay away from beaches, they have become cleaner, he said.
“If we start to conduct beach clean-ups then we will have a very big improvement,” he said.
Lopokoiyit, however, said 15 per cent of residents are still using plastic bags in Mombasa adding that they are working hand in hand with enforcement agencies to ensure the use is at zero per cent.
“The use of plastic bags has been going down, when we started, it was at 50 per cent,” he said.
He said traders selling sugar cane and in markets are still using them but they are keeping track to see where they source them.
The Star toured a street in the county and found some traders still using the bags.
Mwatime Khalfani who sells groceries said they accept the ban but given a chance to speak out, they would want it to be lifted.
Her argument is that the plastic bags are water-resistant and are better for wrapping groceries.
“The plastic bags were very favourable to us, even if there is rain they would not get soaked up,” Khalfani said.
A trader who sells baobab seeds said they have to buy the plastic bags illegally just so they can keep their products safe adding that customers are able to see what they are selling.
“If you are found with such bags you will be in trouble because they have been banned, how we get them is by use of the back door,” she said.
Edited by R.Wamochie
