AFRICA, POWER & PLASTIC

 

Big petrochemical companies aiming  at Africa   

Petrochemical companies are producing more and more plastic but they have to face two problems : the first is that many trades are already saturated and the second is that only few countries are willing to become the dumps of multinational companies . A solution for the sector would be Africa and, actually,  the American chemistry council is trying to influence Kenya in order to make the government renounce the severe limitations imposed on the usage of plastic.

Naturally that's not where the story ends. In fact the capitalist machine wants to exploit Kenya as a crossroads  for an international plastic trade including other African countries.  Some researches have  shown that the sector invested  in plastic 200 billions of dollars in the last 10 years , used to build chemical and manufacturing plants in U.S. , and the same U.S. in 2019 sent over six hundred thousand tons of plastic waste in 96 countries .

Obviously environmentalists are worried and they are doing everything possible to fight this machine . On the other hand  businessmen don't care and, instead of paying attention to  the consequences of their actions, they only think about profit and the resulting  political power . Fortunately,  the negotiations are still in an initial phase and some politicians are cautious,  because if  Kenya signed this kind of agreements it   would become an easy prey for U.S. economy after that the pandemic has damaged its economy .

James Wakibia

James Wakibia is an environmentalist that has contributed to the law that banned the usage of plastic bags in Kenya . When he attended the University he had to pass through Nakuru dump to reach classes, that is the fourth biggest urban area in Kenya . So he started a campaign  on social media that in 2017  brought to the issuing of the law that banned plastic bags .

Giordano C., 4sc