Business Daily (Nairobi)
Morris Aron
24 February 2008
More than half of plastic manufacturers have complied with new regulations barring production and distribution of light density bags, the industry's lobby said.
More than 40 out of the 80 plastic manufacturers have complied with the requirements, Betty Maina, the Kenya Association of Manufacturers chief executive officer said.
The manufacturers, however, asked environment authorities to bring into force the proposed green levy proposal - instead of the 120 per cent tax on plastics to save the industry from imminent collapse.
Under the proposal, all plastic manufacturers will pay $20 per tonne of plastic materials manufactured to the Plastic (green) Management Levy Committee.
The fund would then be used to promote responsible disposal of plastic materials, organizing environment cleanliness programmes and recycling of plastics.
The proposal was abandoned after Finance minister Amos Kimunya -in a budget speech and subsequent passing of the Finance Bill 2007 - banned production of plastic bags of at least 30 microns and introduced a 120 per cent excise duty on all plastic manufacturers.
Though implementation of the directive was to start in January 2008, the government granted the manufacturers six months to comply.
The Government has since clarified that the 30 microns thickness would only apply to plastic bags with handles and wrapping materials.
Muusya Mwinzi the director general of the National Environment Management Authority, said the green levy proposal was still an option for the country to deal with plastics.
He urged manufacturers to comply with the demands saying the cost of a polluted environment would be much more than the profits companies are making while polluting the environment.
"The new conditions were put in place to address the environmental concerns and the health risks associated with plastic bags of certain thinness," said Mr Mwinzi.
Most of the companies manufacturing plastic bags for east and central African region are located in Kenya.
Compliance with the new manufacturing regulations are therefore expected to benefit the entire region.
It, however, emerged that one company - which as a result of the new regulations -was facing increased production costs and reduced revenue and is weighing the option of relocating to Dubai.
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