The National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) has stopped manufacture, importation, supply and use of non-woven polypropylene bags in the country effective Sunday, March 31.
In a statement, NEMA said it had arrived at the decision following consistent supply of low quality bags that had since flooded the market.
The authority said due to the rising need of non-woven bags in the market, it has been noted over time that manufacturers of these bags are producing very ‘low gauge’ poor quality non-woven bags which cannot be used multiple times but are disposed of after single use.
NEMA said the single-usage of these bags will eventually lead to heavy environmental consequences due to poor disposal practices currently being experienced in the country coupled with the lack of requisite infrastructure to sustainably manage the bags.
NEMA now says the ban will only be lifted after Kenya Bureau of Standards (KeBs) gazettes a standard that will inform the quality of non-woven polypropylene bags in the country.
The non-woven bags were introduced in August 2017 after the Ministry of Environment banned the use of plastic bags.