The crackdown on banned plastic bags has intensified after the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) raided an illegal manufacturing facility in Njiru, Nairobi, arrested five people and seized 90,695 single-use plastic bags.
The suspects, among them the owner of the facility, were taken into custody after NEMA enforcement officers found the prohibited bags being manufactured at the premises. They were booked at South B Police Station before being released on cash bail pending their appearance at the Kibera Law Courts.
NEMA said on Thursday that the operation forms part of a wider nationwide effort to stop the manufacture, distribution and use of banned plastic carrier and flat bags.
“NEMA Kenya has intensified its nationwide crackdown on the banned plastic carrier and flat bags. In a recent operation, enforcement officers raided a facility in Njiru, Nairobi, where illegal plastic bags were being manufactured and arrested five (5) suspects, including the facility’s owner,” the authority said.
The 90,695 bags recovered during the raid were seized as NEMA moved to cut off the supply of prohibited plastic products from the facility.
The operation comes more than nine years after Kenya introduced a nationwide ban on plastic carrier bags. The ban came into effect on August 28, 2017, following a government gazette notice that outlawed the manufacture, importation and use of plastic carrier and flat bags for household and commercial packaging.
NEMA says the restrictions remain in place and that the authority is responsible for enforcing the ban.
The restrictions were introduced over concerns about the effects of single-use plastic bags on the environment. They have been linked to widespread littering, blocked drainage and sewerage systems, damage to ecosystems and harm to animals that ingest plastic waste.
Before the ban was introduced, NEMA and its partners estimated that supermarkets alone were distributing about 100 million plastic bags every year.
The authority says the ban has led to improved compliance, with its current plastic management information putting compliance at more than 90 per cent. However, illegal production and use of the prohibited bags remain a challenge for enforcement agencies.
NEMA's enforcement record also shows the scale of the problem in the years following the ban. Two years after the restrictions took effect, the authority reported more than 500 arrests and 300 prosecutions, while compliance was estimated at about 80 per cent.
The regulator has continued to make seizures of banned plastic products across the country. In 2019, NEMA reported recovering more than eight tonnes of prohibited plastic bags from a site in Murera, Juja, Kiambu County, leading to the arrest of two people.
The restrictions cover several types of plastic packaging, although some products can be allowed under specific conditions. Plastic bags used for approved primary industrial packaging, biomedical waste and hazardous waste may qualify for exemptions and require regulatory clearance.
NEMA has warned that those who breach the ban face heavy penalties under Section 144 of the Environmental Management and Coordination Act. Offenders may be fined between Sh2 million and Sh4 million, jailed for between one and four years, or face both penalties.
The authority has also encouraged businesses and manufacturers to move to approved alternatives to conventional single-use plastic bags and comply with packaging rules and extended producer responsibility requirements.
The five suspects arrested during the Njiru operation are expected to appear before the Kibera Law Courts, where the case will proceed.
The latest seizure shows that illegal production of banned plastic bags remains an enforcement challenge despite the ban having been in place for more than nine years. NEMA's continued raids are aimed at disrupting the manufacture and circulation of the prohibited products and enforcing Kenya's plastic management rules.