Staying power

"The only affordable clean drinking water comes in plastic sachets, too. Deola Asabia, who runs an environmental charity in Lagos, says there is little hope of a ban on plastic bags in Nigeria until the population has access to clean drinking water."

A big wave of plastic bags activism is shaking the world. British cities, San Francisco, Nairobi are engaging in it. And they are right. I know from experience and research that sea turtles, who mistake floating plastic bags for jelly fish, used to be found dead in Lebanon. I know that they are every where, and virtually indestructible. You'll find them in the most remote locations in the deserted Yemeni mountains, where hardly anyone lives. But the reality bites hard: only those countries that have achieved a decent level of services and of wealth and of regulatory control can actually progress on this issue. Like on all other issues. So plastic bags are here to stay in Kenya, Nigeria, Yemen and Lebanon.