Kenya has become the 10th African country to ban lightweight plastic bags: Kenyans making, selling or using plastic bags risk prison or fines of $40,000.
The Kenyan government has joined a growing list of governments in Africa that have banned disposable, lightweight plastic bags. The list includes Botswana, Cameroon, Eritrea, Mauritania, Morocco, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda.
Kenya attempted a ban in 2007. Following three attempts and a decade later, it has finally passed. The ban in Kenya is relatively unusual because of the seriousness behind it: several countries have banned plastic bags but have done little to enforce those bans. As a result, the black market in plastic bags continues unabated.
Kenyans are estimated to use 24 million bags a month, although other estimates place the number at 100 million bags a year. Bag manufacturers in Kenya, who have opposed the ban, have said that 80,000 jobs are at risk because of the ban. Retailers have already started selling fabric bags for KSh10 ($0.10).
The ban is interesting because it also shows an overlooked side to development in Sub Saharan African markets: plastic bags remain available and on sale across most of Europe and America. The Kenyan initiative is a case of environmental ‘leapfrogging’, in which a developing economy adopts more progressive and deeper measures than more developed economies.
The plastic bag ban is instructive because it shows the power and promise of early stage intervention. it also shows the intersection of environmental initiatives and market-led interventions. For all the noise from bag manufacturers, fabric bags and can will fill the void.
This intersection between environmental initiatives and consumer demand is most obvious in the adoption of renewable energy infrastructure. But it will spill over into other service and manufacturing sectors, from homebuilding and urban planning through to transport infrastructure and agriculture.
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