The Irony of Stunt Activities on Industrial Polution:
Plastic Industry on a Suicidal Mission for Kenyans

Nairobi - 20th September 2002

Today marks the beginning of the Clean up the World campaign, which will go on until Sunday. This campaign has been going on every year, yet Kenya continues to be dirtier every year. It is ridiculous and makes the activities taken to mark the clean up day look like a one-time stunt! And so this year, like in previous years, the Nairobi river will be cleaned up to mark the World Clean Up Day, only for more filth to be thrown into it.

The Nairobi River, and especially at the Globe Cinema roundabout, is choking with filth most of which is plastic in all colours, shape and size. As soon as one group cleans it up, other groups rush to pour more filth into it.

While all this takes place, the industries that manufacture plastics continue with their massive production of thin, cheap, low quality plastic containers for a "one time use only". The industrialists have never heard of the clause in the Environment Management and Coordination Act known as the principle of ' the polluter pays' , and perhaps the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources has not yet discovered the pollution thrown into rivers. If the Ministry did discover such filth in water that is used at domestic level downstream, I wonder whether it would have the courage to force the plastic producers to clean the river!

Besides producing filth the majority of the plastics is turned into litter, which creates breeding places for mosquitoes? This is partly blamed for the resurgence of malaria and death from the disease.

While burning of the plastic is not a solution since it contributes to the green gases that are harmful to the Ozone layer, throwing them into the river or into the garbage heap is not quite the solution. Besides plastic is not biodegradable and breaks down very slowly. Many a farmer believes that if their livestock ingest the plastic bags they would die.

One of the sites that need cleaning up is the sight of dirty children sniffing glue, a petroleum product. It should be possible to substitute the chemical, which is used in the making of glue and which destroys the brain of the children. We understand that it is possible to make glue without that chemical but still give the "high" feeling which children seek in haling the glue.

But Kenyans would rather make a stunt by gathering those filthy children, giving them a Christmas dinner or washing them once to mark Children's day!

What we would like to see is the government ensure that some standards are put in place to ensure that the plastics are of strong quality and can be used several times. Secondly, people should reduce the amount of plastic they use by recycling and reusing. The campaign advocates for 3Rs (reduce, re-use, recycle).

Millions of shillings will probably be used to clean up Nairobi River, rather than demanding that the plastic industries play their part. The polluter pays principal stipulated in the Environmental Management and coordination Act 2002 indicates that those polluting the environment should pay up for the cleaning.

Doing that would make the Clean up activities in Nairobi a worthwhile undertaking.

Save Kenyans from the woes of plastic products!

Signed,

Wangari Maathai
Coordinator

Green Belt Movement,
P.O. Box 67545,
Nairobi,
Kenya.

Tel: +(254)-2-571523
Web site: http://www.geocities.com/gbmovement