Eswatini government determined to ban single-use plastic despite push back by pro-plastic lobbyists
Despite the Eswatini parliament’s suspension of the legislation banning single-use plastics for another seven years, the country’s Prime Minister Russell Dlamini has assured the recent Third United Nations Oceans Conference (UNOC3) that the country will eventually ban their use.
Speaking in Nice, France, Dlamini said Eswatini was committed to protecting the oceans by eliminating pollutants before they reach rivers which eventually flow to the sea.
“We have taken legislative action against single-use plastics and continue to strengthen our national waste management systems to better control what enters waterways. In this light, we support the call for the global and eventual banning of plastics,” said Dlamini.
“Eswatini is preparing to engage actively at the upcoming Global Plastic Treaty Conference in Geneva, where we’ll advocate for equitable and inclusive mechanisms to support developing countries. These should include access to green finance, enhanced technical assistance, and incentives for innovation in sustainable packaging, product design, and waste processing,” he said.
The seven-year parliamentary suspension of the law banning single-use plastics in April 2025 has frustrated local environmentalists and UN agencies, who have lobbied government over a decade to institute a law that would prohibit use of plastics.
Concerning revelations were reported by British newspaper The Guardian in 2023. It quoted Tearfund, a charity organisation, which said plastic waste across Africa was “spiralling out of control” and was growing faster than any other region.
“If the trend continues unabated, the region is projected to end up with 116m tonnes of plastic waste annually by 2060, six times more than the 18m tonnes of waste produced in 2019,” it observed.
The Government of Eswatini then effected a law totally banning all single-use plastic carrier bags, like many African countries facing plastic environmental issues.
The initial measure was effectively from December 1, 2024, according to Minister of Tourism and Environmental Affairs, Jane Simelane. But, it was later postponed to January 31, 2025, before eventually suspended by Parliament in April 2025.
Before the law suspension, Simelane had said all retailers, supermarkets, manufacturers and vendors would be prohibited from selling or providing free single-use plastic shopping bags to customers. This encompassed bags made from traditional plastic materials, including polyethylene and polypropylene, regardless of thickness.
She said it was the government’s significant step towards eliminating plastic pollution and safeguarding the planet for future generations, including positioning the kingdom as a tourism destination of choice in Southern Africa.
But pro-plastic lobbyists never rested. Before the December 1 ban in 2024, sometime in November to be precise, a collective of Swazi recyclers, waste collectors, plastic manufacturers, and other concerned stakeholders petitioned Parliament to reverse the plastic ban.
The House of Assembly selected a 7-member committee to critically look at the contests of the petition. The ban was deferred for two months, until the eventual seven-year postponement by the house.
Trash to trade
Lindiwe Myeni (47), was one of the market vendors excited by the suspension of the plastic ban. She has been supporting her household by selling plastic-made handicrafts for five years.
“I appreciate what Parliament has done. Members of Parliament (MP) have given our business a new lease of life,” she said, seated at her stall pitched at Manzini Market. “Plastic waste is what I use to pay school fees for my six children.”
“There is a special type of plastic I buy from the collectors operating at Manzini city’s dumpsite. They charge about $1.64 or $2.19 for a batch of 15 or 20 plastics. I think government should leave plastic bags alone but ban disposable nappies instead. They are a menace,” she added.
Bezi Kunene and Mhlonishwa Bongwe are grateful to their MP Sifiso Shongwe, who was at the forefront in fighting the pro-ban legislation.
The duo is among hundreds of Swazi micro-scale social entrepreneurs who use innovative waste solutions in filthy peri-urban areas like Kwaluseni, characterised by informal settlements and illegal dumpsites. The chiefdom, because of its urban proximity, provides labour to Matsapha, Eswatini’s largest industrial area.
The 2007 population and housing Census estimated a total of 60,064, resulting in a population density of 2,104 persons per square kilometre.
“The ban will affect thousands of people. This includes plastic manufacturers, recycling companies, collectors and many others. The law will contribute to poverty and job losses,” Bongwe argued.
Kunene and Bongwe’s innovative waste management solution involves agreement with dozens of owners of one-roomed residential compounds. Depending on the size of the compound, each room is charged a monthly service fee of $0.82 or $1.09. Kunene and Bongwe, accompanied by their four employees occasionally come to collect and sort the waste. They sell plastics, cartons and scrap materials to the local recycling agency.
“We hire a local lorry to collect the waste from the respective compounds around Kwaluseni. We take time to segregate the waste and send the material we can’t handle to the dumpsite. At the dumpsite, there are other colleagues who also collect it for their own benefit. Banning plastics is irrational and not a sustainable solution to the broader waste management challenge facing thousands of Kwaluseni residents,” explained Bongwe.
“Plastic waste is money nowadays. Almost 80 per cent of the waste is re-usable and recyclable. Different social entrepreneurs use plastic waste to make interesting products like pavers and other handcraft products. To us, plastic waste is not a problem but a sort of solution.”
They admitted that Kwaluseni’s filth has impacted catchment ecosystems.
“These illegal dumpsites and informal settlements have destroyed our freshwater streams and wetlands. People are allowed to build on wetlands, that’s the problem.
“The waste flowing into our streams is toxic. Now we no longer have fish, crabs and frogs. Our kids will grow not knowing these animals,” protested Kunene.
However, in the face of such challenges, Kunene and Bongwe insisted that they can deal with waste effectively at Kwaluseni, provided their innovative ideas are well supported by the government or private sector.
Kwaluseni MP Sifiso Shongwe, also the seconder of the plastic ban reversal motion, said Eswatini was not ready for the plastic ban and it did not make business sense. “Remember we have investors who have already invested in the plastic recycling sector. We’ll be shooting ourselves in the foot to ban plastics when we have investors who have already invested to recycle the plastics. And, we are banning a wrong plastic, a recyclable and reusable carrier bag. We are not banning styrofoam,” Shongwe argued.
Eswatini Environment Authority’s Head Environment Impact Assessment Monitoring and Evaluation Officer, Belusile Mhlanga said beside pollution, plastic waste affects human health in various ways. “Majority of Swazis like to burn plastic waste which emits gases that affect a human body, especially children. Some exhibit stunted growth because of certain poisonous chemicals. They also affect Intelligence Quotient (IQ) which contributes to low passing rate of pupils at school,” said Mhlanga.
However, Seth Maphalala, an environmental consultant at Indalo Eswatini, an environmental action group, described the reversal of the ban as tragic. “The tragedy in this issue is that as a country we are pretending to be a silo. The world is going towards banning plastics. Even in Africa, there are several countries that have banned plastics, and it is working for them. But what we are seeing now is that the plastic industry is sponsoring people to reverse the ban. That is unfortunate and tragic,” said Maphalala.
“The ban doesn’t say we can’t use plastics. It said there can’t be single-use plastics but recommended quality plastics that can be reused and recycled several times. The collectors and recyclers have not collected enough plastics that are available out there. They must go out there and collect them. We still have many plastics. They end up in the dumpsite, the streets, in the veld and in cattle stomachs.”
Maphalala contended that even after the ban, they will still have a lot to collect. “They won’t run out of business. It is still going to take us 10-20 years of recycling plastics to make a dent in the plastic debris we have in this country,” he said.