Plastic zip lock bags

Lee Family

To those Kenya and Tanzania travelers: Did you pack any zip lock bags (like for TSA liquids) for your trip? We understand completely about the ban on grocery type carry out plastic bags, but what is unclear on multiple forums is whether there is also a ban on those small zip lock bags for liquids. Does anyone have an answer? Would silicon type zip lock bags be an acceptable alternative to holding one's liquids?

AlanS

Lee Family wrote:

To those Kenya and Tanzania travelers: Did you pack any zip lock bags (like for TSA liquids) for your trip? We understand completely about the ban on grocery type carry out plastic bags, but what is unclear on multiple forums is whether there is also a ban on those small zip lock bags for liquids. Does anyone have an answer? Would silicon type zip lock bags be an acceptable alternative to holding one's liquids?

The ban does not apply to small, ziplock style, bags. There is a lot of bad info out there, including on travel sites like Flyertalk, TripAdvisor, etc. The ban is essentially on plastic shopping and trash bags. While it is aimed at manufacturers, importers, and bag sellers, it also applies to individuals, including tourists.

Here is what it says on the Kenya Ministry of Environmental and Natural Resources/National Environmental Management Authority (NEMA) website:

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQs)

Question 1: Which plastics have been banned?

Answer: The ban applies to all plastic carrier bags and flat bags used for commercial and household packaging.

Question 2: What is a plastic carrier bag?

Answer: This is any plastic bag regardless of its thickness or colour, used at the supermarkets, retail stores, shopping malls and grocery stores as secondary packages.

Question 3: What is a flat bag?

Answer: A flat bag is a plastic bag constructed without handles and may have a gusset or not.

See the link above for more info and photos of both "carrier" and "flat" bags.

Also, it appears that either there is nobody at airports to enforce the ban or the officials there haven't been trained yet. That might be of concern- if they start enforcing the ban without adequate training, what will they do? It may also be that there are a number possible exceptions that still need to be addressed by the Kenyan government. Though I couldn't find it in writing, Abercrombie & Kent claims zipper-type, multiple use plastic bags like those used to carry cosmetics, toiletries, etc. are exempt.

British

When we booked our next Africa trip in 2019, Tauck was very specific about checking we had no plastic bags for our entry into Kenya. Clearly the small ziplock bags are allowed for the usual allowed toiletries. We always pack extra old shopping bags for wet swimsuits, dirty shoes, dusty clothing etc so we will have to rethink our packing. I guess the storage bags that some people use that shrink wrap your clothing are no good either now. This is where the lack of sensibity for using so many bags in the US and elsewhere is coming back to haunt us.

cb2labs

British wrote:

When we booked our next Africa trip in 2019, Tauck was very specific about checking we had no plastic bags for our entry into Kenya. Clearly the small ziplock bags are allowed for the usual allowed toiletries. We always pack extra old shopping bags for wet swimsuits, dirty shoes, dusty clothing etc so we will have to rethink our packing. I guess the storage bags that some people use that shrink wrap your clothing are no good either now. This is where the lack of sensibity for using so many bags in the US and elsewhere is coming back to haunt us.

British,
did you book an Africa trip for 2019? Which one are you doing?

Carol

British

Hi Carol, Kenya Tanzania and Rwanda