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Plastic pollution: “The situation in Kenya is critical”, according to Hamisa Zaja
Audio 02:10
The Kenyan situation is critical regarding the plastic situation according to Kenyan Green Party activist, Hamisa Zaja.
© Ben Curtis/AP
Text by: Christina Okello
2 mins
In Kenya, despite a law in 2017 banning plastic bags, the country is still struggling to reduce its waste.
While Nairobi is currently hosting the assembly for the environment... precisely to try to find an international treaty to regulate plastic pollution.
Hamisa Zaja, general secretary of the United Green Movement party, calls for action.
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How is the situation in Kenya regarding plastic pollution?
I think it is high time that we have legislation that really tackles plastic pollution, because the situation in Kenya is critical.
When you go to the beach, there are hardly any fish left in the ocean.
Those who are there have ingested plastic bottles, plastic syringes, plastic shoes, by the thousands.
The beaches are dirty and litter floats on the surface of the water.
This waste comes from the depths of the ocean.
Many of our beachfront hotels contribute to the problem as they use plastic.
Kenya had yet banned plastic bags, why did it not work?
We really tried to banish plastic bags, offering biodegradable plastic bags instead.
But we always kept plastic bottles, plastic tools.
Every time we go to a party: we are offered plastic plates, plastic cups.
Most are thrown into waste collections or garbage centers where they pile up.
And they are harmful, very harmful.
What is the impact of this pollution?
I am from an Asian town in Kenya called Mombasa.
In this town, fishing is the main source of income.
At the time, it accounted for 100% of our activity, today production has dropped to 25% due to plastic pollution.
We are also seeing the appearance of diseases like dengue fever and chikungunya.
Plastic braids and hair cause this.
Since there is no place to recycle them, they end up in the pipes.
As soon as there is rain, there are floods, which promotes the spread of these diseases.
All of this is growing because of plastic waste.
What response can you make?
Once a month, the community and the schools organize clean-up operations on the beaches.
We then try to recycle the plastic waste found.
We even built an orphanage using plastic bottles.
We fill them with sand and lay them out like a wall.
Then we add cement and that's how we were able to build our orphanage.
We try to show that there are other ways to use plastic waste.
►Also read: The outlines of a future international treaty against plastic pollution are emerging
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