CONSUMERS ARE TO CONTINUE USING PLASTICS UNTIL JAN 31, 2025

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BY MBONO MDLULI

MBABANE – Consumers will continue to enjoy using plastic bags for the next two months following the postponement of the plastic ban in Eswatini.

In fact, the ban was to take effect yesterday. However, it will now come into effect on 31 January 2025.

Minister of Tourism and Environmental Affairs Jane Mkhonta-Simelane spoke today (Monday, December 2, 2024). She was speaking on EBIS 1’s current affairs programme Letishisako. Mkhonta told the nation that they had to shift the date to allow retailers an opportunity to deplete the stock of the plastics that were supposed to be banned.

As a result, Mkhonta-Simelane said they decided in a meeting held on November 28, 2024, with the retailers that the plastics would be banned for the last time on January 31, 2025. “This means by February 1, 2025, there should be no plastics in the shops,” Mkhonta-Simelane said. The minister also mentioned that not all of the plastics were going to be banned on January 31.

She said the only plastic products that would be banned were plastic bags used to carry groceries from shops. Mkhonta-Simelane said these plastic bags were seen as problematic to human lives, as they had the potential to make people fall sick. She further said such products were a problem to the environment, as they were dumped at any site across the country. Sometimes, they even cause land and water pollution.

The minister mentioned that banning these plastic bags would not affect job losses. She said plastics that would be prohibited formed a small portion of the entire plastic industry in the country. She said the only people who worked in the plastic manufacturing industry in the country were about 168. She also stated that those people would not lose jobs, but would take part in manufacturing other plastic products that would continue to be produced in the country.

Mkhonta-Simelane said plastics used to package different food products such as bread, snacks, chicken portions and other items would not be banned. She also mentioned that many other plastic products are manufactured in the country such as dishes, bottle juices, buckets and other products. She said workers in this industry could continue to participate in the manufacturing of the products.

The minister expressed hope that the nation would embrace this change because it had been responsive to the ‘Phatsa Sakho Nawe’ campaign, where consumers were encouraged to use their own bags to carry whatever they bought from retailers.

In May this year, Prime Minister Russell Mmiso Dlamini announced that Government would ban the use of plastic bags in the country. The premier said this at the Sibane Sami Hotel in Ezulwini, where he was meeting the Members of Parliament (MPs) House of Assembly Portfolio Committee on the Office of the Prime Minister. The purpose of this meeting was to update the committee on the work that the office of the Prime Minister did. Minister Mkhonta-Simelane further made a statement to that effect on that day.

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