Kenya’s experiment in banning plastic bags

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When Kenya decided to introduce severe penalties for the manufacturing, distribution, sale and use of plastic (polythene) carrier bags two years ago, it seemed like a pragmatic response to a critical issue. However, as this BBC article shows, not only are the sanctions disproportionate (in my view), but efforts to work around the ban by introducing ‘greener’ alternatives have had negative as well as positive consequences.

Clearly, well-intentioned legislation aiming to address environmental issues will be caught on the back foot if it fails to take into consideration the circumstances specific to any particular setting.

Confusion over the plastic bag levy in Namibia

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The national levy on non-biodegradable single-use plastic bags (previously given away gratis at Namibian retailers) was due to be gazetted on August 1st this year (of course, the actual cost of providing these ‘free’ bags has formerly been absorbed into the price of products for sale). Subsequent searches online failed to produce any concrete information regarding progress of this important legislation, which will affect pretty much every adult in the country, week in, week out.

Whilst it’s commendable that our legislators are getting up to speed with the need to incorporate environmental issues into policies and laws more fully, and levies imposed in other countries have had significant positive results in this regard, nevertheless we should all be aiming to reduce and eventually eliminate our use of such plastics in our lives.

Ask for a cardboard box to hold your items; use fabric bags such as those made by the ‘Sew Good Namibia‘ project; ask for price stickers to be put directly onto single loose fresh produce (such as butternuts).

‘Sew Good Namibia’ makes its first sale!

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After carpet bombing friends and family with the link to this blog yesterday evening, this morning I can announce that ‘Sew Good Namibia’ has made its VERY FIRST SALE. Many thanks go out to Ms Uschi Bauer, a keen birder, who bought a reusable shopping bag made from material with a design of birds on it. I hope to be able to deliver it to her shortly and that she gets many years of use from it.

(2026 update: it was originally intended that ‘Sew Good Namibia’ would operate as an online sales outlet only, and for a while we also marketed our products through an online shopping platform, ‘Padstal Namibia’, that eventually closed down through lack of interest. Even today, with a very active presence on Instagram and Facebook, we receive very few orders through the Internet. Almost all our sales happen through the many stores that retail our goods and a very occasional opportunity to showcase our products at Windhoek markets.)

‘Sew Good Namibia’s’ group of supporters grows

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Today I was excited to swing by Windhoek to collect two large and welcome donations from new supporters. (2026 update: with only 3 interior design stores in Windhoek, we continue to depend on donations from private individuals to supplement the supplies we receive from these generous commercial supporters. This is especially true since thread, webbing for bag handles, buttons and zips are expensive to purchase and we now feature shweshwe, odelela and waxcloth cotton in our designs for the tourism market – fabric that is not received from shops that specialise in furnishing material.)

Mrs Gertrude Piek of the Namibia Bird Club kindly handed over a large quantity of cotton material, some of which may be of use to a group member who is skilled at quilting. She also supplied a lot of wooden beads, which I had been unable to find on sale in any local shops.

The Safari Court Hotel also stepped up and contributed old plain cotton sheets that can be used to line bags, thus ensuring that the ‘Sew Good’ group does not have to purchase this essential item from their income.

Our first project: ‘Sew Good Namibia’ gets us up and running

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‘Sew Good Namibia‘ received its first donation of fabric swatches and wallpaper samples from ‘Touch of Style‘ in mid-June 2019.

Many thanks indeed to Annette, Nicky and the team.

‘Sew Good Namibia‘ is a Windhoek-based pilot enterprise that will be soft launched this weekend (22/23 June 2019). Using fabric and wallpaper donations from interior design shops in the Namibian capital, three women will be able to start supplementing their household incomes by making up shopping bags, patchwork tote bags, fabric containers for a range of gifts, and Bible covers – all reusable and made from discontinued shop stock that would otherwise go to waste. Thanks go to Merryl Butcher who first suggested this idea many months ago.

‘Sew Good’ artisans are also able to make other fabric items to order and are developing product lines to utilise the waste wallpaper samples in their stock. To find out more about ‘Sew Good Namibia’ and request a quotation, please contact me on: 081 1271741 or SewGoodNamibia@gmail.com

(Profiles of the three founder members of ‘Sew Good’ to follow!)