Govt plans to ban plastic bags
Isaac Pinielo | Wednesday July 6, 2016 14:38
This comes after constant failures by the government to implement and collect funds from the plastic bag levy that was passed in 2007.
Speaking in Parliament on Monday, Khama said the ministry was advised that the plastic bag levy collection will be complex to administer and that it may not serve the purpose for which it was intended.
He noted that the advice was made during consultations with the Botswana Unified Revenue Service (BURS) and the Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry.
“On the basis of this advice, my ministry resolved to ban plastic carrier bags, a proposal which has been approved in principle. There is therefore no plan to introduce the plastic levy,” he said.
However, the minister noted that the National Strategy Office (NSO) had requested for further consultations on the same issue which has not been conclusive up to now.
“It is our hope that a worthwhile solution will emerge from consultations, failing which my ministry will press ahead with the ban,” he said.
The implementation of the plastic bag levy and the collection of funds by government has been a mystery since authorities did not want to own up to the responsibility of collecting the money made from the sale of plastics.
Since the levy was imposed in 2007, shoppers began paying between 15 and 25 thebe for the plastic bags they get from supermarkets. Currently, some shops charge as much as 50 thebe for a bag.
Consumers have forked out millions of Pula to retail stores that should have been used to fund environmental initiatives, but government proved to have failed to collect the proceeds.
Instead, the money that should have funded environmental initiatives is only benefiting businesses since there are no adequate collection structures within government. While the price of plastic bags has meant consumers have not tossed them away as readily as they did in the past, resulting in a noticeable reduction of plastic bag litter, none of the money has been used to recycle plastic bags, nor have any recycling jobs been created.
The levy followed the introduction of the Plastic Carrier Bags and Flat Bags Specification by the Botswana Bureau of Standards (BOBS).
The law, which came into force on May 12, 2007 requires shops to use bags of a thickness of not less 24 microns.