Africa-Press – Tanzania. THE National Environment Management Council (NEMC) has destroyed 7.5 tons of banned plastic and substandard alternatives bags, which were seized in Dar es Salaam and Coast regions.
The prohibited products were destroyed through a waste disposal plant at Dangote’s Mtwara -based cement factory NEMC Southern Zone Manager, Engineer Boniphace Guni reiterated the need for manufacturers and importers of the banned plastic bags to stop immediately engaging in such business or face stern measures.
“They should also stop importing or manufacturing al- ternative bags, which have not been approved by the Tanzania Bureau of Standards (TBS), because doing the opposite at- tracts a fine of between 20m – and 1bn/-,” he said.
Eng Guni said the fake and banned bags were collected following a crackdown, which started in 2019 against the violators of the law on the ban of use of substandard plas- tic packaging materials in the country.
“I urge those involved in the importation or manufacturing as well as the consumers of the carrier bags in the country to adhere to law by ensuring the bags they are importing, using or manufacturing are of standard as per TBS directives,” he said.
Senior Environmental Management Officer with NEMC, Eng Genoveva Masha- nene cautioned users of the bag products to be vigilant when using them by ensuring each and every alternative bag they purchase is labeled with TBS logo.
She said consumers of the products, who will defy the law by using substandard bags would be liable to a fine of be- tween 30,000/- to 100,000/- or serve jail term for days not ex- ceeding seven days. “Importers and manufactures of plastic bags and sub- standard alternative bags that have been banned by the gov- ernment will be liable to a fine of up 1bn/- should they defy the directives,” she said.
The government banned the use of plastic Carrier bags effective from June 1, 2019 citing biodegradability of plastic bags which can last from 10 to 20 years in marine environ- ment or more on the ground leading to deadly pollution of the atmosphere.
