Consumers of locally produced goods are calling upon government to allow some goods to be packaged in degradable plastics, since the material used to package most of the locally made bread does not preserve it well, making it hard and compromising the taste.

Rwanda outlawed usage of plastic bags in 2008, with a mission of securing the environment of plastic impurities, something which has produced positive results, however its indiscriminate implementation has been faulted by some consumers.

“Most of the bread gets dry and crunchy, the packaging materials used for bread is lacking, I am a bread lover but I have given up on bread, government needs to open the window on confectionaries, some degradable plastics can be used to package bread,” said Sikubwabo Fulgence, a Kigali resident.

Consumers say that the available options for packaging are not good enough to preserve the quality and taste of bread, with many say plastic bags are the best packaging for breads.

“Government and bread makers should look into options like biodegradable polythene bags, which dissolves after some time. Why should we eat bad bread?” asked a consumer.

“We know that issue with bread and confectionery in general, but policy wise it cannot be done, everything plastic was outlawed, we can’t allow for some products and leave out others, we are involved in a feasibility study for a packaging plant to cover a wide range of packaging, this will be one of the components we look into,” said Robert Opirah, the director general of trade and investment at the ministry of trade and industry.

He said the government is undertaking a study to understand the different packaging needs in the market, what is available and what is needed by the consumers depending on the goods, and that what is proposed will inform what the packaging plant will produce.

“After this we shall have a clear category of the plastic materials needed for which goods, then we shall look at the options, for the biodegradable plastics, even for these we need proper scientific studies for environmental friendliness, by the end of this year we shall have a clearer picture,” he noted.

He added that for bread they will have to look at the thickness of the polythene bags, and also see which size is needed, and which one is safer for the environment.

“As of now plastic bags are allowed only for exports, because many other countries have not yet outlawed plastic bags,” he added.

Most of the packaging materials used locally are imported from China and Europe, while some are made regionally by players like Riley Packaging, which is also in advanced stages of starting a packaging plant in the country.

Poor packaging has been one of the biting issues affecting Rwanda’s exports, the integrated packaging plant is looked up to address these gaps and provide value added packaging solutions for agro-processing and general manufacturing.

To align government policy after the ban of plastic bags, there was a rush in importation of paper packaging materials, $27.6 million of paper packaging products was imported in 2012 alone.

Local makers of paper packaging bags have come up, like SRB and Emballage, SRB having capacity of making 15 metric tonnes per month and Emballage’s capacity being 2.5 metric tonnes per month, they have also developed the capacity to stamp and or print its bags with some basic company branding like for Simba and Ndoli’s supermarket, however neither is doing very high end paper bags, or other packaging to better preserve consumables like bread.