Single-use plastic ban: Environment lessons India can learn from East Africa

India has banned the manufacture, sale and use of identified single-use plastic items like plates, cups, straws, trays and polystyrene from July 1, 2022. One of the single-use plastic items listed among them is the plastic carry bag.

The Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016 define carry bags as “bags made from plastic material or compostable plastic material, used to carry or dispense commodities which have a self-carrying feature.”

The Rules urge plastic manufacturers to shift from a 40-micron thickness (prescribed by the Plastic Waste Management and Handling Rules, 2011) to a 50-micron thickness.

In the latest amendment, the government decided to ban 50-micron thick plastic bags and prescribed a higher thickness of 75 microns.

From January 1, 2023, the thickness of the plastic bag will be further revised to 120 microns, according to the Plastic Waste Management Amendment Rules, 2021.

The motive behind the move is to increase the thickness in anticipation of carry bags becoming valuable enough to be picked up from the streets and dumpsites. A workforce of garbage collectors channelises most of our plastic waste to formal and informal recycling facilities. 

However, the increase in thickness from 40 microns to 120 microns might not solve the issue. Moreover, the informal workforce will probably not invest their time and energy in collecting plastic waste, which are of low-value and high volume.

This means that even in the best-case scenario, we will still have to deal with the sight of plastic carry bags in every nook and corner of our cities, despite the assumption of the ban being thoroughly enforced.

East Africa and plastic

Although Kenya has the strictest ban on carry bags, the enforcement for the same has been lax and the country is struggling to ensure that carry bags are not manufactured in its territory. They are also trying to ensure that the bags are not being smuggled from neighbouring countries, especially Uganda. 

So what is the solution? A handful of east African countries like Rwanda, Tanzania and Kenya have devised viable solutions in this regard. 

The import, manufacturing or sale of single-use plastic bags in Kenya could earn a fine of $40,000 for companies and $500 for individuals.

Rwanda, like Kenya, has done away with the ‘plastic thickness game’ and issued a complete ban on carry bags, irrespective of the thickness. This implies that no plastic carry bag can be manufactured, used, imported or sold in the market.

In October 2019, Rwanda became the first country in Africa to issue a complete ban on single-use plastic bags.

Tanzania has followed it. The country’s Environmental Management (Prohibition of Plastic Carrier Bags) Regulations, 2019, clause 5 reads, “All plastic carrier bags, regardless of their thickness, are prohibited from being imported, exported, manufactured, sold, stored, supplied and used in Mainland Tanzania.” 

Exceptions are in place for plastic packaging used for medical services, industrial products, construction industry or the agricultural sector, among others.

Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda have joined hands to fight plastic pollution in the East African region. These countries have collaborated to fight against plastic pollution through a Single-Use Plastic Free East African Community campaign.

The campaign with the hashtag #SUPfreeEAC (Single-Use Plastic Free East African Community) was initiated through a coalition of four organisations, namely the Centre for Environment Justice and Development, Global Initiative for Environment and Reconciliation, Bio Vision Africa and NipeFagio.

In Tanzania, NipeFagio, a non-profit, has collected intensive data on plastic pollution, mostly through primary data. It has been found that apart from plastic carry bags, other single-use plastic items may become a problem in the years to come—food wrappers.

                                                                        Reduction of plastic in Tanzania

 Source: NipeFagio

 In 2019, when the ban came into force, the amount of plastic put out on the Tanzanian market reduced considerably.

In 2020, plastic carry bags were almost non-existent in the market. However, the carry bags started to make a comeback in 2021. These bags were a result of illegal local production and import.

This strengthens the fact that notifying a ban is just the beginning of the fight against plastic pollution.

Enforcing the ban is the real challenge; moreover, the enforcement process must be rigorous and continuous to ensure that the banned items are not produced within the country or introduced through other means.

India has a few takeaways from these ast African countries that have notified a strict ban on plastic carry bags and are trying hard to enforce it, albeit with some hiccups but with outstanding clarity and good intent.

Pollution World Africa