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Africa urged to emulate Rwanda’s ban on polythene bags

Friday July 13 2012
bags

Products made out of recycled polythene paper at an exhibition. Rwanda won accolades for banning polythene bags, a move that has made its cities some of the cleanest in Africa. Photo/File

Members of Parliament and experts from 10 African countries want the continent to emulate Rwanda and support efforts to stop importation, manufacturing, sale and use of polythene bags.

Speaking during an inter-parliamentary hearing in Kigali last week, they said the continent should utilise sustainable biodegradable products like re-used paper and cloth.

During the hearing at Hotel Chez Lando, Rwanda won accolades for banning polythene bags, a move that has made its cities some of the cleanest in Africa.

Rwanda proposed a nationwide ban on single-use disposable plastic bags in 2005. The ban was passed and effected in 2008.

Tanzanian MP Josephat Kandege Sinkamba and Uganda’s Alex Byarugaba Bakunda said efforts were being made under the East Africa Legislative Assembly to support the prohibition of polythene bags.

Rwanda Environment Management Authority (REMA) director general Rose Mukankomeje said the ban of polythene bags was as a result of her country’s realisation of its harm to the environment.

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“Rwanda has many big ambitions. We want to be part and parcel of the planet. You don’t need experts to tell you how to clean your country. For us we have an obligation to keep it clean and healthy,” Dr Mukankomeje said.

The director of the World Future Council, Alexandra Wandel, and her United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF) counterpart Jan McAlpine hailed Rwanda for being a pioneer in banning plastic bags.

“The WFC commends Rwanda’s policy of banning plastic bags. We encourage more countries to follow suit,” Ms Wandel, who was accompanied by WFC consultant Ina Neuberger and Ansgar Kiene (director Africa Liaison office), said.

The hearing, which attracted participants from Burundi, Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, South Africa and Zambia was co-sponsored by the United Nations Forum on Forests.

Participants committed to take back the ideas, policies and successful experiences discussed to their countries, and to work to get support for implementation.

The WFC, which convened the meeting, partnered with Rwanda Ministry of Natural Resources, Rwanda Natural Resources Authority, REMA, the UNFF, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and Globe International.

International organisations including FAO, Icraf, Nepad and Cameroon Wildlife Conservation Society were represented by experts.

The ban has been resisted in some of the East African Community member states, but EALA has passed new laws to discourage use of polythene materials.

A new levy on producers and consumers of polythene materials is to be introduced and the proceeds used to help with waste management.

Kenya had petitioned the assembly to introduce the levy instead of imposing a blanket ban on polythene bags, as Rwanda had proposed.

READ: Kenya unable to escape from a plastic bag

Rwanda had sought to prohibit trade in polythene materials in East Africa, unless it is done with special clearance from the national environmental standards regulators.

It said a ban on plastics would be the best strategy to help tackle the menace of non-biodegradable waste in the region, and cited the success stories of Bangladesh, Botswana, Israel, Rwanda and France that have enacted similar laws.

Kenya opposed the total ban on the grounds that its multibillion investment in the polythene sector would be rendered idle, leading to the loss of thousands of jobs.

Statistics show that there are 42 manufacturing units in Kenya, with an estimated total investment of about Ksh43 billion (Rwf314 billion).

The polythene industry in Kenya employs more than 9,000 people directly and another 80,000 indirectly and contributes about Ksh1.5 billion (Rwf10.9 billion) in tax revenue each year.

Kenya has tried to rein in pollution from polythene materials, but lax enforcement has left many suburbs and rivers choking with waste.

In Rwanda, the ban is taken seriously. Once it was passed, citizens were encouraged to use the monthly obligatory communal work session, known locally as umuganda, to collect all the plastic bags lying around or buried.

All travellers to the country are warned that they will be fined if they use the bags within the country.