NAIROBI – The growing threat of plastic wastes especially to the marine environment is one of the issues that came up at the first Sustainable Blue Economy Conference in Kenya. About 30 million tons of plastic wastes are produced yearly.

Plastic wastes take more than 100 years to degrade. Large quantities of plastic waste end up in the marine environment where they threaten the lives of marine beings like fish and sea turtles. Plastic wastes also in turn affect humans and birds who consume marine food.

As the use of plastic waste grows countries around the world are adopting various measures to address the menace. Representatives of the Canadian and Kenya government spoke to IPS on what their counties are doing to address the plastic waste menace.