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KIKUYU, Kenya Early in the morning, Alice Wangui prepares to open her vegetable stall in the outdoor Kinoo Market, some 13 miles northwest of central Kenya. She unpacks ginger, red bell peppers, zucchini, onions and tomatoes, hanging them under a colorful umbrella that shields them from the rising sun.

A man pulls up on a motorcycle and drops off a bundle of reusable shopping bags at Wanguis booth. Made from polypropylene, a type of plastic that is more durable and easier to recycle, these thicker tote bags are supposed to be long-lasting.

Since Kenya initiated a strict plastic bag ban in 2017 , with heavy penalties for those who flout it, these alternative tote bags line the stalls like Wanguis throughout the market, ready for customers who havent brought their own reusable bags. Theres much less plastic on the streets now, said Wangui.

Before the ban was introduced, grocery stores in the country were handing out over 100 million bags per year , despite a lack of waste disposal infrastructure to keep them out of the environment. Plastic bags clogged waterways and drainage systems, which made flooding worse during the rainy season. More than half of all cattle near cities and towns had plastic in their stomachs, according to a government-supported study , and in Nairobi, some slaughterhouses were removing up to 20 plastic bags from inside cows.

Kenyas plastic ban followed in the footsteps of Rwanda and Morocco , and these initiatives have led other East African countries like Tanzania to also introduce a complete ban on lightweight plastic bags. In total, according to a United Nations December 2018 report, there are 34 bag bans or taxes across the African continent.

These countries join dozens of others around the world in their efforts to tackle pervasive plastic pollution. Across the U.S., more than 400 cities and states have bag bans or taxes on plastic bags. And by next year, the European Unions ban on single-use plastic items like straws, forks, spoons and plates will go into effect.

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Kenya, however, is considered to have the strictest penalties in the world , making manufacturing, importing or selling single-use carriers punishable by a prison sentence of up to four years or fines up to $40,000. Anyone caught using them also faces a fine, which so far has been between $300 and $1,500 , and a possible prison sentence of up to a year.

But there are some exceptions to the law: certain kinds of single-use plastic bags are still allowed for garbage bin liners, medical waste, construction and for packaging foods like bread , as well as the use of cling film (like Saran wrap).

Two years on, as the country prepares to roll out new limits on more single-use plastic items banning plastics from parks and beaches effective June 2020 the success of Kenyas bag ban remains mixed.

Officials, activists and local vendors are among those who say the law is responsible for cleaner streets and there is some evidence that plastic bag use has been drastically reduced. But, even with the harsh penalties, plastic bag pollution hasnt been completely eliminated in Kenya, and plastic bags both legal and illegal continue to make their way onto the countrys streets.

And one of the biggest questions remains: How do you create a bag ban that works?