Uganda plastic bags ban - 15 Oct 07

Like many other countries around the world, plastic bags litter Uganda. They poison the soil, block drains and create an unsightly health hazard. So the government listened to the environmental concerns and banned the bags but the clean-up campaign's not going according to plan. As Al Jazeera's Africa correspondent Yvonne Ndege reports from the capital Kampala, many are flouting the law. Even the soil is thick with them, so are the drains. It's business as usual for Yvonne Massolo. She's supposed to be observing a government ban on selling plastic bags. But she's choosing to break the law. She's risking jail and a $20,000 fine. But it's her only means of survival.

Massolo says: "This is my business, this is where I get school fees, this is where I get food, looking after my mother, looking after my extended families.

"Some are in the village, they are looking at you. You are in Kampala. You give us this, you send us this, we are sick, send us money to go to the hospital. All that from this."

Here in the business district of Kampala, the trade in plastic bags known as Kuvera continues. Most of the vendors here are completely oblivious to the environmental impact of what they are selling. And that is why a ban has been imposed. Ugandans get through 700 tonnes of plastic bags each year. That accounts for 20% of household waste.

The environmental impact of plastic bags is plain to see. The are completely embedded into the soil. Some carrier bags have probably been in the ground for years. And it could take an incredible 2000 years for some them to degrade. Those who pushed for the ban are appalled that is it being so openly flouted. They think that even in the developing world, protecting the environment should be priority.

Beatrice Anywar, an evironmental campaigner, says: "All Ugandans need to unite and make sure the ban of buvera in Uganda is affected. Because it is for the benefit of this country. Short of that, there is nothing we can do about this. We shall have our drainage system blocked, we shall have our soil for agriculture destroyed, we shall have the environment degraded seriously and health hazard continuously."

But consumers say that there are no alternatives. Vendors want more time to get rid of their stock.

The government says the ban is staying in place. But many question its ability to enforce the new law.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Al
• Jazeera
• Yvonne
• Ndege
• plastic
• bags

[adikiny]

Of course there are alternatives to plastic bags. The Luo of around Lave Victoria have for billions of years been making "okap"(bag) out of "othith", a natural material similar to palm tree leaves or even from "tworo" (sisal). Such bags are not only strong but can be washed and dried in the sun. They are practical for shopping and other uses too. They are very nice looking and and part of nature. Like any other leaves they finally rot and become soil.

[TrollKing2009]

plastic bags were imported from the white man....

[nilespring9]

Continue to ban. It is a nuisance. It destroys our inviroment.

[TheGanstaben]

they have been banned in kenya too

[lburrier]

We all need to take responsibility for how to coordinate our lives so that plastic pollution doesn't kill us off. It is up to each one of us to do a simple thing. Recycle, refuse plastic that can't be recycled and stop disposing of things that cannot rapidly decompose and give back to the land.

[W012248]

at the first person - change yr job doh

[amberpoovey]

Obviously the problem is not plastic bags, it's the fact that people litter...take away bags and some other shit gets thrown on the ground.

[fuhoney]

@adikiny UGANDA, the dumbest sh**heads on the planet!!!

[KikiButtercup]

Do people honestly have to always put the blame on someone? Stop the hate, there is no reason for it. Especially over the internet.

[SuperTVInternational]

before white men entered africa was there a pollution crisis? were animals about to become extinct? no. im white but i can take the blame where necessary

[SuperTVInternational]

i bet it was yoru country that created the culture of using plastic bags