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In an effort to reduce plastic bag pollution, Kenya has introduced tough laws that will result in a prison term of up to 4 years or a maximum of $40,000 for any Kenyan producing, selling or even using plastic bags, although initial enforcement will target manufacturers and suppliers.
"The East African nation joins more than 40 other countries that have banned, partly banned or taxed single use plastic bags, including China, France, Rwanda and Italy."
Bags can take 500-1000 years to decompose, in the mean time killing or harming wildlife and entering the human food chain.
What is being done about plastic bag pollution where you live?
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Kenya Introduces Big Penalties for Plastic Bags
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There will be big changes for you but you will be happy.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by jmorris on Tuesday August 29 2017, @04:07PM (5 children)
Where to begin?
Plastic bags don't last 500 years unless buried deep. Especially the modern ones designed to decompose, perhaps Kenya should have simply 'encouraged' the use of what is now twenty year old unpatented tech?
Then there is the ban on USING them. So you have all these plastic bag you don't want entering the waste stream, so you ban people from reusing them until they fall apart? Either that is truly dumb or it proves I'm not smart enough to work at an elite NGO drafting 'model laws' for 3rd world countries to adopt on pain of losing western welfare. My money is on it just being dumb though because I haven't seen too many smart people at NGOs, mostly sinecures for the spawn of 0.01%ers.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 29 2017, @04:40PM (1 child)
Ok, jmorris too? Is this corporate astroturfing day or are you conservative types just triggered by any "hippy" ideal like reducing human waste production?
The law seems a bit severe but hey, I don't live in Kenya. If you only ban using new bags how easily can you enforce the law? "I was just reusing this bag, I got it before the law started officer!"
Where are youg etting this NGO nonsense? Western welfare? It always bears repeating, you're fucking nuts.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Wednesday August 30 2017, @12:07AM
I'd rather they reduced wasting my time. Time is valuable since I only live so long, landfill space not so valuable since we have so much land area and we can use it for other things before and after we use it for a landfill. Yet you will see again and again clueless "hippy" thinking about preserving some ridiculously common thing like glass by wasting our time (such as with pointless, complex recycling procedures).
(Score: 2) by vux984 on Tuesday August 29 2017, @06:29PM (1 child)
Perhaps I'm mistaken, but I've read that the decomposing plastic bags don't really decompose. They just disintegrate. So instead of 1 plastic bag... you've get a 10 million tiny flakes of plastic instead; and its not really much of a win for the environment; since they contaminate the water supply and get into the food chain etc.
(Score: 2) by TheRaven on Wednesday August 30 2017, @07:50AM
sudo mod me up
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 30 2017, @03:41AM
Plastic bags don't decompose, they simply break up into tiny pieces. These tiny bits of plastic make up a larger volume in some areas of the ocean than plankton:
https://www.exploratorium.edu/blogs/spectrum/more-plastic-plankton-ocean [exploratorium.edu]
Plastic for practical purposes, is forever. Even "biodegradable" plastics do not degrade in the natural environment:
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/may/23/biodegradable-plastic-false-solution-for-ocean-waste-problem?CMP=share_btn_tw [theguardian.com]
Good for Kenya, Rwanda, most cities outside the agricultural central valley in California, etc., for outlawing disposable plastic bags. A canvas bag will last for years, with the only inconvenience being the need to remember to bring it with you shopping (I live in a California city where plastic bags have been outlawed for many years, and the ban has caused no negative impact on my life).
We also need to outlaw disposable plastic containers and packaging. Making single use, disposable, items out of one of the most durable materials known to man is simply insane.