Plastic bags ban still Jan 1, says govt

Dodoma. Plastic bags manufacturers in the country will have to adopt new technologies of making environmentally-firendly bags or close down their businesses.

Before the Parliamentary Committee on Industries, Trade and Environment, the government reiterated its total ban on plastic bags by January 1, next year.

The government team led by deputy Minister in the Vice President’s Office (Union Affairs and Environment) Luhaga Mpina presented a draft of regulations, which indicated that there would be exemption on plastic bags used in medical services, industrial packaging, the construction industry, the agriculture sector, in sanitation and in waste management.

There will also be a special phasing out time for up to two years for the manufacturers either to shut down their facilities, lay off workers or change the technology.

For those industries, which will still have raw materials to process the bags, which were ordered before the official announcement of the ban in August this year, will be allowed to manufacture the bags provided if the bags will be for export only.

Mr Mpina said the bags had been causing devastating pollution and the government had tried since 2006 to ban the use of plastic bags below the width 30 microns and in 2015, the ban was extended to plastic bags below the width of 50 microns, but then it decided to do away with plastic bags altogether.

He said in Dar es Salaam alone the authorities spent up to Sh10 billion annually repairing water supply infrastructure due to blockages caused by plastic bags.

Committee members, however, insisted that they supported the government in efforts to protect the environment, but they wanted emphasis to be laid on helping local industries in the business to use environmentally-friendly technologies.

He also said the government intended to formulate new regulations that would attract more investments in small and large-scale industries that would process solid wastes, including plastic materials.

MPs also raised concerns on the government’s capability to stop illegal importation of plastic bags since 2013 there was a ban on the importation of plastic bags, but still consignments, which made up to 70 per cent of the bags used in the country were illegally in the country mainly from Dubai, China and Kenya.

In the morning, representatives from Plastic Manufacturers Association of Tanzania (PMAT) led by their chairman Mushtak Walij told the Parliamentary Committee that they had no problem with embracing the biodegradable technology.