Why it’s time to give up your Nakumatt bags
In Kenya and all over the world, people face a mounting problem. A problem that takes many forms and is growing at an exponential rate. It is the face of a doll, the lid of a bottle, and the pen in our hand.
This petroleum-based product is the epitome of modern convenience. It is resilient, malleable, and cheap to produce. Some plastics are not just useful but also necessary. From mobile phones to prosthetic limbs, man has created the perfect material. Some plastics are convenient while others are born from the self-indulgent consumerist attitude, and perhaps environmental negligence, that has come to represent this era in human history. Single-use, everyday items such as the lids of coffee cups, straws and plastic bags are a momentary convenience, which take thousands of years to biodegrade. Could we be any more irresponsible?
Many countries have chosen to address plastic pollution by singling out one of the worst culprits, the plastic bag. It is estimated that 500 billion to 1 trillion plastic bags are used worldwide each year. On World Oceans Day in 2009, the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) called for a worldwide ban on plastic bags to address the impact plastic has on our environment. Despite this, two years later, we are still seeing action only at a national or local level.
Some countries, like Ireland, have tried to tackle the plastic menace by using a ‘plastax’, a 15 cent tax on plastic bags. This has reduced the use of plastic bags by 90 percent and raised millions of euros in extra revenue which has been ploughed into environmental projects.
Kenya first imposed a plastic ban in 2007, targeting thin bags that are below 30 microns – a micron, or micrometre, is one-thousandth of a millimetre or one 25th of a thousandth of an inch -- and imposed a tax on thicker ones. However, this was immediately rescinded after a series of court battles brought by manufacturers belonging to the Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM). The government buckled under pressure from lobbyists. “KAM may re- sist as they have interests in the industry,” says Jackie Marita, communications officer for the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA). “Plastics are essential elements of industriali- sation and socio-economic development of a country... [hence the need for wide consultation] before effecting the ban.”
In January this year, NEMA gave manufacturers and importers 90 days adhere to a new ban, which will target plastic bags below 60 microns. NEMA also plans to introduce a green levy to channel the 120 percent excise duty on plastics to environmental projects. “As opposed to the money going to the ex-chequer and getting utilised in other areas,” says Marita.
But how can we be sure the ban will hold? Since the first call to action six years ago, there has been no improvement: plastic bags commonly referred to as ‘the national flower’, still cover the landscape. In fact, the problem has got progressively worse.
“I involve myself in helping that cause in any and every capacity possible,” says Raabai Hawa, a woman with big ideas and a DJ at XFM, a Nairobi- based rock music radio station. She is also a defender of wildlife who is dedicated to giving voice to those who do not have one. “Wildlife has always been my first and only love,” she says. While the rest of us were partying our way into 2011, Hawa spent her New Year chasing poachers, deactivating snares and removing plastic waste from Nairobi National Park. “It (plastics) is everywhere.”
Together with Adam Withey, a passionate environmentalist and owner of ‘Uhunzi’, a scrap metal recycling firm, Hawa decided to address the plastic problem in Nairobi. They’ve headed straight to the big boys and want supermarkets to take responsibility for dishing out the plastic bags that are clogging the city.
“It’s just getting a little ridiculous that you’re double-bagging things and handing out bags for sodas,” Hawa told Sameer Shah, Nakumatt supermarket’s operations manager, during one of their meetings. “It starts with you. It’s just unnecessary. Surely, it wouldn’t be too much to just tell the staff to only use bags when they’re needed?”
It is not surprising that NEMA’s plan to ban bags under 60 microns does not impress Hawa and Withey. “It’s typi- cal here! Legislation goes through and then it gets forgotten about. It’s one step forward, two steps back. It is useless in my opinion,” Hawa says. She points to Rwanda, which has a full ban on plastics. “All they [manufacturers, importers and the Kenyan government] do is increase the thickness and continue to allow it! This is insane.”
However, from the supermarkets’ perspective, they must stay competitive, and for some reason, handing out superfluous bags makes the consumer feel good. “Plastic bags are the future...You want us to go backwards. I bet you’d have us riding around on donkeys too,” said one Nakumatt employee who declined to be named because he is not an official spokesperson for the supermarket. He laughed when I put my kikapu (shopping basket) on the counter.
It appears a public awareness campaign is required, both for shoppers and staff at Nairobi’s supermarkets. I asked one customer why he hadn’t brought his own shopping bag. He said, “I guess I don’t really think about it ... I never remember to bring a bag, so it’s just a lot easier to get free plastic ones”. So unless there is a change in consumers’ attitudes, the supermarkets have no incentive to adjust.
Despite what Hawa calls the “PRBS”, the bottom line is that nothing will be done unless it works economically. “We were told to get the support of 30,000 people for them (Nakumatt) to look into the plastic bag problem,” she says.
So far, Hawa and Withey have set up a group on Facebook named ‘30,000 strong supporting alternatives for plastic bags for Nakumatt’. By the end of January, the group had 4,462 members and a lively Wall discussion about international plastic pollution concerns. Kigo Kareithi, a member of the group, wrote, “We are so in need of a complete ban on plastic bags, one just needs to drive along any road in our country to see the bags hanging on trees, on the ground. It is disgusting. BAN them.”
Kassie Mcilvaine said, “Please, please how do we stop this plastic bag nonsense - jamming waterways, animals eating them - we do not need so many. I was in Nakumatt watching and if you buy one onion it gets put in a bag at the vegetable section and then at the cashier in another bag!!! Not one bag was needed - the price tag could have been stuck to the onion and off we go! Please stop being so selfish.”
In January this year, Atul Shah, Nakumatt Holdings managing director, confirmed the firm’s support for the new directive to upgrade to 60 micron plas- tic bags. Shah says that the chain is on course to meet the directive by March 2011. “We are however conscious that further consumer education and consultation with the government is required,” he says, adding that his firm will join forces with all stakeholders to raise awareness on the use of reusable bags and explore feasible recycling measures.
It looks like some people do care after all. It is certainly something people should care about. As Hawa explains, this is not just about consumer rights, but also environmental degradation and health.
Nobel Laureate Wangari Maathai has linked plastic bags to raised incidence of malaria because mosquitoes breed in the stagnant water that collects around plastic litter. Wildlife is also affected. Issi Bulloch, of ‘30,000 strong supporting alternatives for plastic bags for Nakumatt’, tells of an incident at Hopcraft Farm in Athi River, where she saw Marabou Storks landing and excreting plastic bags they had eaten while nesting on the trees at Mombasa Road, opposite Nakumatt Mega.
“I want people to change their attitude and Nairobians to be proud of their city,” Withey says. He goes even further and links littering with crime. “Getting rid of rubbish and cleaning a city can actually reduce crime,” he says.
According to Withey, in the 1980s in New York, there was a crime wave that even increased numbers of police couldn’t tackle. Despite various strategies, nothing worked until a new mayor came in and decided to invest in cleaning the city. “Graffiti that was painted all over the sidewalks was cleared and no subway trains would run unless they were spotless,” he says. “Miraculously, crime rates dropped. It seemed that once people felt they lived somewhere respectable, they behaved more respectably.”
Withey says that Rwanda, which has been so progressive with its anti-plastic policies, has also benefited in more ways than one. He says Rwandans take these measures very seriously and are proud of being so uniquely forward-thinking in Africa. Border guards even check and confiscate plastic bags in vehicles entering the country. He also says that everyone is held responsible for keeping the country tidy, and must clean certain areas. “The feeling of pride and worth is tangible and people are happy to do it. It shows that people can change their attitudes simply because of public policies that clean up the streets. So if the big boys are waiting to hear that Kenyans care, let’s show them that we do.”
Let’s support our local handicrafts and start bringing kikapus to the supermarket, and let’s tell the supermarkets we want to be rewarded for this, as is done in other supermarkets around the world. Let’s stop consuming so much plastic so we can stop choking our ‘green city in the sun’.
