8 traders arrested for possessing banned plastic bags in Machakos

Eight people have been arrested for being in possession of banned plastic bags in Machakos County.

The eight were nabbed during a joint operation by the National Environmental Management Authority's enforcement team from the headquarters, Machakos County Government officials, and police officers at Kyumbi Town in Athi River subcounty on Thursday.

NEMA head of operations Shieni Koiyet said the Authority conducted the operations after it realized that the banned plastic bags were returning in Machakos County.

"The operation was about plastic bags since the Authority has realised that banned plastic bags are coming back to the market. We wanted to check on compliance in Machakos," Koiyet told the Star on Thursday.

He said about 1, 000 pieces of banned flat bags and black carrier bags used for packaging muguka were recovered during the swoop.

"We were in Kyumbi Town and arrested eight traders," Koiyet said.

Koiyet added that the suspects had been detained at Kyumbi police station and will be arraigned in Mavoko Law courts on Friday.

"As NEMA, we are warning the public that plastic bags were banned since they have negative effects to the environment, they block drainages, they create breeding sites for mosquitoes, are dangerous to our animals and affect human health especially microplastics," Koiyet said.

 "We remind the public that they shouldn't use them. The traders fail to reveal sources of the banned polythene bags. But, we are working hard to arrest the suppliers and manufacturers. Traders fail to tell us where they get the outlawed polythene bags from whenever they are arrested. We are using intelligence to know whether there are local manufacturers in the country."

Koiyet said some of the banned polythene bags come from other countries where the commodity isn't outlawed.

He said the operations were ongoing in other counties across the country.

Koiyet said the arrests and seizer were a warning to other traders using banned plastic bags in the country.