Nema arrests 13 Nairobi traders found with plastic bags

The National Environmental Management Authority (Nema) has arrested 13 small scale traders in Nairobi for using polythene bags in a heightened crackdown on use of the banned carrier bads.

The 13 were arrested in Toi market and Dagoretti corner during joint enforcement operations with Nairobi Metropolitan Service officers, and arraigned.

Nema’s Nairobi regional director, Anthony Saisi Aura, said they were all in the ‘kadogo economy;, a term use to refer to traders who package products in the smallest quantities possible for people in low income areas.

Mr Aura noted that the ban on single-use plastic bags has created a very big change in the quest for environmental safety in the whole country.

But he added that some unscrupulous traders still sell them.

He blamed members of the public for creating a market for the plastic bags and warned that the crackdown will continue until full compliance is achieved.

“We had seen water being choked, and wildlife and livestock feeding on plastic but when the ban came there was a very big change,” he said.

“The ban had succeeded but there seems to be a surge in the use of plastics. Those still using or producing the plastics should know that we shall not tire in enforcement to ensure the Kenyan environment is clean and safe for all of us.”

Mr Aura said the biggest problem is that manufacturers make the plastic bags in isolated places and that the small scale traders found using them don’t give information that could help with the arrest of the manufacturers and distributors.

He said there are scenarios where manufacturers took advantage of the requirement for some government officers to work from home due to the Covid-19 pandemic and started taking the banned materials back to the market.

He urged other stakeholders to join in enforcing the ban.

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