Another chance to manage plastic waste

A comprehensive policy to address the plastic waste problem in TANZANIA and Kenya has been long overdue. Time has come for all stakeholders to harness their resources and get involved in the programmes designed to tackle pollution and health hazards caused by plastics.

Numerous attempts by environmentalists to control the production and use of plastics have, in most cases, been resisted vehemently by some people.

This has left our nation choked in plastic, leading to untold health hazards and flush floods in most urban centres. Experts agree that the only way out of this mess is to enact policies to regulate the production and use of plastics.

Early this year, the Tanzania Government made a bold move by banning the use of various types of plastics, bringing to almost a dozen the countries in Africa that have enacted policies to tackle the menace.

The announcement by Tanzanian Vice-President Ali Mohamed Shein has been hailed as marking the first time an African country has banned plastic bags so as to curb environmental damage.

Biodegradable alternatives

Manufacturers were given six months to phase out the harmful polythene – which takes up to 1,000 years to degrade – and switch to recyclable materials or biodegradable alternatives. Tanzania joins countries such as Rwanda and South Africa which have set the best example in plastic waste management.

In the region, Kenya stands to lose markets for some products packaged in plastic bags that have been banned by its trading partners.

Going by the recent activities, Kenya’s hope of finding a solution to the plastic problem has become a reality, through the new initiative unveiled by the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources.

The country’s hope rests in a joint initiative by the United Nations Environment Programme (Unep), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the National Environment Management Authority (Nema), which have launched a plastic pilot project focusing on Nairobi , before moving to other towns countrywide.

The new initiative builds on four diverse approaches in tackling the plastic problem, including policy instruments, recycling, best practices and public awareness.

The involvement of key stakeholders handling plastic issues is a clear priority, if the project is to succeed. The involvement of industrialists, community-based organisations and the media at the initial stages of this project, provides the much-needed support that was lacking in the past.

Success in addressing the plastics problem, therefore, requires political backing. Affirmed the Government’s stand on plastics when he addressed the 23rd session of the Unep Governing Council/Global Ministerial Environment Forum, in Nairobi, last year, by welcoming initiatives to address the problem.

Kenyaand TANZANIA can borrow a leaf from successful cases in Africa such as South Africa and Rwanda. The latter has banned plastics materials of less than 100 microns thickness, and backed this initiative with a public awareness campaign. The result? The black plastic bag has disappeared from Kigali and other major towns.

Like Rwanda, Kenya’s pilot project has adopted a participatory approach that involves the private and public sector, consumers and other stakeholders, to come up with economic instruments and facilities to rid the country of plastic bags.

Preventing plastic pollution

There are proposals to prevent plastic pollution, while encouraging re-use and recycling of bags.

Such steps were taken in South Africa and resulted in voluntary interventions in many sectors, including the tourism sector which has introduced environmentally-friendly bags made of sail and denim.

There, should encourage all industrialists in the country to fully support the new move to save the nation from further environmental damage.