MPs Pass Law Banning Single-Use Plastic

Ethiopian lawmakers ratified a strict waste management and disposal proclamation that enforces a nationwide ban on single-use plastics.

The House voted unanimously on Tuesday to ratify the revised law which repealed the 2007 Solid Waste Management proclamation. The decision is a part of a wider approach in implementing an integrated and sustainable system in controlling the ever growing solid waste problems including plastic pollution.

The House’s Environmental affairs standing committee chair Aweke Amzaye noted this waste has now become a concern to the environment and public health. The revised proclamation, the chair noted, will enable us to prevent the damages caused by solid waste to the environment and people’s health and safety.

The proclamation seeks to “establish an effective” solid waste collection, transportation, storage, reuse, recycling and disposal system. It also sets out the responsibility of a wide range of actors involved in the sector.

Authorities expect this to curb the plastic pollution in the country where, they say, over 60 percent of plastic waste in circulation are properly collected and disposed of.

The new legislation will ban not only single-use of plastic when it takes effect upon publication in the Federal Negarit Gazette. It will also broaden the government’s capacity to regulate plastic products manufacturing and import which was previously limited to plastic products below 0.03 millimeter, and did not extend to waste recycling and administration.

The proclamation includes a set of provisions to regulate plastic products under its article Extended Producers Responsibility’.

These include adopting production designs that minimize the environmental impact of their plastic products, and reduce plastic wastage.

They are also required to ensure their products are collected at the end of the term of their service for reuse or recycling, and cover the cost of this process.

There are no provisions of extended responsibilities for non-plastic products in the law, which states that the Council of Ministers may issue another regulation to determine that.

The proclamation takes the plastic wastage-reduction efforts further by banning the production, marketing, importation, storage, selling or use of any single-use plastic.

The Federal Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) is granted the power to monitor the implementation of these restrictions, and “shall “take appropriate corrective measures when violations occur.”

The Authority may also determine, by directive, special circumstances to permit single-use plastics. This exception, however, does not include plastic bags which, under the legislation, is defined as low density and non degradable bags used to contain other products.

Multiple reasons were given for the need to ban on single-use plastics which includes their dominance in plastic wastage circulation, challenges to decompose and to recycle.

The use or holding of plastic bags has also been designated as criminal acts under the proclamation.

Any person who uses or holds to using a plastic bag shall be punished with a fine between 5,000 to 10,000 birr, per the proclamation,

In addition, a person who manufactures, markets, stores, sells or possesses a plastic bag for commercial purpose could be punished with fines up to 500,000 birr and serve up to 5 years in prison.

The penalty fee could increase by threefold when an organization is found committing the criminal acts.