• Nema suspects some of the plastics come from Tanzania and Uganda. 'There has been evidence in Busia, Namanga, Oloitotok and Kwale'.
• There have been discussions with neighbouring countries on how plastics can be handled.
Image: FILE
The National Environment Management Authority has raised concerns over the smuggling of banned plastics.
Nema board chairman John Konchellah said the authority will act decisively on smugglers.
"The banned plastics are slowly coming back. We will work closely with the Interior ministry to carry out a serious crackdown," Konchellah said.
Kenya banned the use of single-use carrier bags in February 2017. The ban took effect on August 28 that year.
The ban applied to all plastic carrier bags and flat bags used for commercial and household packaging.
A plastic carrier bag is a single-use plastic bag constructed with handles and may have a gusset or not.
A flat bag is a plastic bag constructed without handles and may have a gusset or not.
Manufacturers had been given six months to clear their stock.
Despite the ban, some plastics are being smuggled into the country.
For instance, Nema seized eight tonnes of banned plastic bags in Murera, Juja in Kiambu county last year on September 18 last year.
Konchellah said 157 facilities that did not meet the required discharge standards were also shut down and legal proceedings instituted against them.
This, he said, was done during the 100-day Rapid Results Initiative focusing on effluent discharge into the environment.
This initiative entailed the inspection of effluent discharge facilities to ascertain their compliance with the Water Quality Regulation of 2006.
On Monday, Nema Chief Corporate Communications manager Evans Nyabuto said the authority suspects the bags come from neighbouring countries.
"We suspect some of the plastics come from Tanzania and Uganda. There has been evidence in Busia, Namanga, Oloitotok and Kwale," he said.
Nyabuto said there have been discussions with neighbouring countries on how plastics can be handled.
Tanzania recently banned plastic bags while Rwanda already banned them.
However, Burundi, Uganda and South Sudan have not done so.
Nyabuto said Konchellah and Nema acting DG Mamo Mamo will soon outline how awareness and enforcement will be carried out.
He said officers are under instructions to arrest and prosecute all those found with the banned plastics. Being found with plastics in Kenya attracts a fine of Sh2 million to Sh4 million or a jail term of one to two years, or both.
Following the ban, the Kenyan market was flooded with non-woven Polypropylene bags which replaced the carrier bags.
Authorities thought the non-woven bags would bear positive characteristics in terms of reusability and durability as opposed to the conventional plastic carrier bags.
However, due to the rising need of the non-woven bags in the market, Nema noted over time that manufacturers of these bags were producing very ‘low gauge’ poor quality non-woven bags.
The bags, Nema said, could not be used multiple times but are disposed of after single use leading environmental consequences.
Following the challenges posed by the non-woven bags, Nema directed all manufacturers, importers, suppliers/distributors and users of the bags to stop further manufacture, importation, supply and use by last year on March 31.
The move was meant to give the Kenya Bureau of Standards time to gazette a standard that will inform the quality of non-woven bags needed in the Kenyan market.
Edited by R.Wamochie