Uhuru bans single-use plastics in beaches, forests – Nairobi News

President Uhuru Kenyatta has banned the usage of single-use plastic products in all protected areas as Kenya seeks to curb plastics hazard.

President Kenyatta, speaking when he addressed the plenary session of the ongoing Women Deliver 2019 Conference in Canada, said  the ban will cover all national parks, forests, beaches and conservation areas effective June 5, 2020.

“Sustainable environment is a guarantee to a healthy, better and productive society. And that is why women and girls who are key victims of unsustainable practices must own this campaign as part of the gender equality campaign,” President Kenyatta said.

President Uhuru Kenyatta announced a ban on the use of single-use plastics in protected areas in the country. The ban announced on #WorldEnvironmentDay covers national parks, forests and beaches, and will become effective on 5th June 2020 #WD2019 | @KeForestService pic.twitter.com/YxCVjf0pSb

— State House Kenya (@StateHouseKenya) June 5, 2019

This comes two years after Kenya banned the use, manufacture and sale of environmentally harmful plastics, polythene bags and packaging materials.

Plastic paper bags have been categorised as the leading cause of poor drainage and environmental degradation.

Through a Gazette Notice dated March 14, 2017, the carrier bags manufactured with handles or without patches were banned.

Plastics have become a major nuisance for the environment with many littering the oceans, forests and even blocking drainages.

In January, seventeen beach hotels at the Coast banned the use of plastic bottles and straws in their establishments as the war on pollution gains momentum.

Plastic pollutants drift into the ocean, strangling turtles, suffocating seabirds and filling the stomachs of dolphins and whales with waste until they die of starvation.