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Looming ban on plastic bags boon for Lake Nakuru park

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The entrance to Lake Nakuru National Park. FILE PHOTO | NMG

Lake Nakuru National Park is among top beneficiaries of the government’s ban on the use of plastic bags from Monday.

Workers at the park collected 24 tonnes of plastics from the lake and rangelands last year alone. The waste, which mainly finds its way from Nakuru town and communities living around the park, is known to pollute the grazing grounds.

Lake Nakuru National Park Deputy Warden Harun Sang said the plastic waste has given the wildlife sanctuary a bad image. “The litter has been an eyesore and the effects have been both direct and indirect on the wildlife,” said Mr Sang.

He noted that the ban on use of plastic bags will reduce the cost incurred by the park in clearing the hinterlands in order to make them safe for wild animals to graze.

The bags are a danger to animals such as buffaloes, zebras, warthogs, and endangered rhinos.

The park’s one million flamingos have been forced to migrate to other counties, adversely affecting tourism numbers. The park is home to 50 mammal species and more than 450 bird types whose population has been falling, largely blamed on consumption of plastic waste.

The park’s location on the low-end parts of Nakuru has worsened its fate as wind blows from the high altitude Menengai Hills and the populous residential estates that pour their waste into Ndaragu River which flows into the lake.

READ: Leaders warn of plastic waste threat to Nakuru park

Environment Cabinet Secretary Judi Wakhungu, speaking during the World Environment Day celebrations at Egerton University in June, said plastic waste had contributed to degradation of the beauty of the landscapes.

She noted that in 2005 between 500 billion and one trillion single-use plastic bags were consumed all over the world.

“In 2010, Kenya alone generated more than 24 million single-use plastic bags. These bags take between 20 and 1,000 years to bio-degrade and thus have a long presence in the environment,” she said.

The ban on plastic bags is set to take effect on August 28.

Lakes Nakuru, Naivasha, Elementaita and Solai have been heavily polluted by plastic bags leading to an cry for a decisive action to reverse the trend.