• Violations by convicted sellers and consumers is one to four years in jail, a fine of Sh2m to 4m, or both
• KAM says if he Bill is passed as is, businesses will be disrupted or shut down. Mandatory recycling by manufacturers an alternative.
Image: FILE
Manufacturers and importers of single-use plastic materials could soon be forced to pay for recycling.
The Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM) is pushing for City Hall to make paying compulsory, instead of banning plastic materials in the packaging of food and food products.
KAM deputy head of policy, research and advocacy Miriam Bett on Wednesday said paying was better than banning plastics without alternatives.
A ban will lead to massive shut down of businesses depending on the product or packaging, such as restaurants, she said.
“Alternatives to food and food products packaging in Nairobi have not been provided and if the bill is passed, businesses will be disrupted,” she said.
Bett was speaking during the public participation session on the Nairobi City County Plastic (Amendment) Bill, 2021.
The bill is at the public participation stage after its First Reading.
It would ban the use of all plastic materials in the packaging of food and food products.
It stipulates punitive measures for both sellers and consumers. They are a Sh1 million to Sh4 million fine, two to four years in jail or both.
If passed in its present form, you will not drink water or soda in plastic bottles or buy supermarket foods or take aways in plastic containers.
Bread in plastic wrapping and milk in plastic containers will be banned.
KAM said if the bill is not amended, transboundary movement of goods to other counties without the same law will be affected.
Bett explained it would amount to non-tariff and technical barriers (NTBs), both within Kenya and outside, with partners such as the EAC, as Nairobi is a central route to other countries.
KAM urged the Nairobi county assembly to align the bill with the National Sustainable Waste Management Bill before the Senate. Thus, the country will have a single policy framework.
To curb environmental pollution caused by single-use plastic bags, KAM called for the adoption of the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) scheme.
It calls for manufacturers to be responsible for take-back, recycling and final disposal of plastics.
If the bill incorporates the EPR, it would be mandatory for manufacturers and importers of plastics used to package food and food products to adopt the scheme.
The fees paid by the manufacturers and importers would be used in collection and recycling.
Bett called for a mandatory pooled enterprise-based compliance scheme to ensure manufacturers, users and importers of plastics shoulder the EPR obligation.
“A four-year jail term or Sh4 million fine or both should then be applied to any manufacturer, not under the EPR scheme,” she said.
The punishment for convictions by sellers and consumers is one to four years in jail and a fine of Sh2 million to Sh4 millon, or both.
The bill follows another ban on plastics in national parks, beaches and forests announced by President Uhuru Kenyatta last year.
The ban that took effect on July 5, 2020, applied to all plastic carrier bags and flat bags used for commercial and household packaging.
It prohibits taking them as well as plastic plates, plastic cups, plastic spoons and forks as well as water bottles into parks.
(Edited by V. Graham)