The Tanzanian government has officially announced a ban on the entry of all plastic carrier bags according to a press statement from the Vice President’s office.
The May 16, 2019 statement titled: “Notice To Travelers Planning To Visit Tanzania,” said the government was going to set up a special desk at entry points to enforce the measure.
The statement read in part: “The Government of Tanzania wishes to make an official note to travelers planning to travel to Tanzania that from 1st June 2019 all plastic carrier bags, regardless of their thickness will be prohibited from being imported, exported, manufactured, sold, stored, supplied and used in mainland Tanzania.”
Official government notice to travelers planning to visit Tanzania in the wake of plastic bags ban. pic.twitter.com/uyOcJ3b7W4
— January Makamba (@JMakamba) May 15, 2019
In August 2016, the government warned manufacturers of plastic bags to diversify their line of business ahead of the January 2017 full implementation of a plastics ban. Today’s development is a second decisive leg of ensuring a plastic-free country.
In April 2016, a minister of union affairs and environment, January Makamba, informed the National Assembly that the government was going ahead with its total ban on plastic bags.
‘‘We are warning industries that stern action, including closure, will be taken against those who will be caught manufacturing plastic bags,”
Change of Mindset
Kenya effected the ban on plastic bags on August 28th, 2017. Anyone found selling, manufacturing or carrying plastic bags could face fines of up to Kshs. 4,000,000 or prison sentences of up to four years.
In March this year, the UN Environment Assembly, calling on countries to curtail plastic usage at its meeting in Nairobi, said only nine per cent of the nine billion tonnes of plastics ever produced had been recycled.
“If the current consumption patterns and waste management practices do not change, by 2050 there will be around 12 billion metric tonnes of plastic litter in landfills and the environment,” it said.
Bangladesh was the first country in the world to ban thin plastic bags in 2002, and has been followed by countries including China, Australia, and Italy.