NEMA Nairobi City County Director of Environment Njoki Mukiri displaying plastic carrier bags discovered in a raid. [Photo|standardmedia.co.ke]
Manufacture of plastic carrier bags is still ongoing almost four months after the ban, National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) has discovered.
The sly manufacturers are secretly carrying on with their business of producing the outlawed carriers at night to outsmart the authorities.
NEMA Nairobi City County Director of Environment Njoki Mukiri said the Authority was conducting night raids to crack down on manufacturers who are still engaging in the illegal business.
According to the Standard on Thursday, Mukiri said NEMA this week impounded around two tonnes of the bags being packaged for the market.
"On Monday we raided Arihant Industries Limited in Industrial Area where we found 28 bales and one sack of the banned black carrier bags and flat bags being produced and packaged," she said.
Mukiri said it was becoming trickier to identify the manufacturers since godowns and factories were not labelled.
"Some manufacturers have put up notices saying they are no longer in business but their machines are still running," she noted.
The underground manufacturers are mainly based in Nairobi’s Industrial Area, Mlolongo in Machakos County and Thika.
The NEMA Director added that the authority would intensify the raids to nab manufacturers operating behind closed doors and under the cover of darkness.
The plastic carrier bags ban came into force on August 28, which means that anyone found selling, manufacturing or carrying them could face fines of up to Sh4 million or prison sentences of up to four years.
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