Nema has warned those violating the ban on the use of plastic bags will be fined Sh4 million or a two-year jail term.
The authority has announced it will list all banned plastic materials. The ban that will come to effect on August 28 will not be suspended, despite opposition from manufacturers.
Nema director general Geoffrey Wahungu on Thursday said they are in the process of listing the banned polythene bags before the ban comes into effect. “As per the gazetted law, anyone violating the ban faces between one and two years jail term or a fine of between Sh2 million to Sh4 million,” he said. Wahungu said primary packaging, which involved packaging of products at source, had not been banned but all carrier bags had been outlawed. “We have held several stakeholders meetings with players in the industry and the effects of the environment by the plastic papers supersedes the economic value,” he said.
Wahungu said use of bags made from sisal, papyrus and reeds as some of the alternative, that consumers could use. “We expect that with the ban the sisal industry, which has been on the decline, will rise and the agro-forest sector will become more profitable,” he said.
