SOMALIA: Somaliland bans use of plastic bags

[NASSIR]

SOMALIA: Somaliland bans use of plastic bags

 

IRIN

 

NAIROBI, 1 Mar 2005 (IRIN) - Authorities in the self-declared republic of Somaliland on Monday banned the use of all types of plastic bags, information minister, Abdillahi Duale, told IRIN.

 

"The bags have not only become an environmental problem, but also an eyesore," he said on Tuesday from the Somaliland capital, Hargeysa.

 

The Somaliland cabinet, he added, made the decision to ban the bags, which had been nicknamed "the Hargeysa flower", following an assessment of the damage they caused to the environment. The ban marked the end of a 120-day grace period that the government had given to the public to get rid of their stocks.

 

The bags were mostly used to carry groceries and other goods. They were often discarded and litter most streets and landscapes across Somaliland. Many of them ended up being blown around and deposited on trees or shrubs, posing a danger to livestock because the animals that feed on the leaves in the shrubs often ingest the bags accidentally.

 

The Ministry of Trade and Industries announced the decision in a decree titled: "Banning importation, production and use of plastic bags in the country".

 

Duale said it would be accompanied by an awareness campaign to inform the public about the danger of plastic bags. "We will use both the print and broadcast media to reach as many people as possible," he added.

 

He said people should use reusable, environmental-friendly baskets and containers, such as sacks made of straws, reeds and sisal. "These are the kind of containers that our people traditionally used" before the arrival of the plastic bags, Duale said.

 

Duale said all the country's seaports, airports and other border points had been instructed to enforce the ban. "We are determined as a government to enforce this ban, no matter what," he said.

 

A week ago, researchers in Kenya recommended that thin plastic bags, widely used across the country for carrying shopping, be banned because they pollute the environment and are a potential health hazard.

 

In a report released during the 21-25 February meeting of the Governing Council of the UN Environment Programme in Nairobi, the researchers also recommended that taxes on the manufacture of thicker plastic bags be hiked to discourage their use.

 

Prof Wangari Maathai, the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize winner and the Kenyan assistant minister for environment, has linked plastic bag litter with malaria. She said, the bags, once discarded, fill with rainwater, offering ideal breeding grounds for malaria-carrying mosquitoes.

[NASSIR]

What will people use in place of bags?

 

Dambiil? ama Jawaan?

[NGONGE]

^^^^

 

I believe Ireland did something similar a while back. Somaliland seems to be keeping up with the Joneses! Surely the qaat-chewing brigade will not stand for such nonsense though!

 

Anyway, let's wait for some of the Somaliland haters to mock this whole idea and then the die hard Somalilanders to retaliate with a few words of their own. It'll give a whole new meaning to the phrase “bac ba ku xidhanâ€

[NASSIR]

NGonge, i just found out that Kenyan researchers recommended the ban of plastic bags In Kenya. Is this move by the Hargeisa administration in response to the recommendation made by researchers in Kenya as a way to counter city waste.

 

check the link

 

 

_____________________________________

NAIROBI, 24 Feb 2005 (IRIN) - Researchers in Kenya have recommended that thin plastic bags, widely used across the country for carrying shopping, be banned because they pollute the environment and are a potential health hazard.

 

In a report released during the 21-25 February meeting of the Governing Council of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) in Nairobi, the researchers also recommended that taxes on the manufacture of thicker plastic bags be hiked to discourage their use.__________________

 

SOURCE

[NGONGE]

^^^^ It sounds like a good idea. Those plastic bags are a menace. In the case of Kenya, the report implies that those bags are manufactured in the country. Taxing these manufacturers while providing an environmentally friendly alternative should sort Kenya’s problem. Somaliland is probably a different case though. I’m not aware of plastic bag factories in Somaliland and can only assume that such products are imported! If such is the case, I really can’t see how the government can enforce such a law. American style paper bags would be much better in my opinion and can be recycled (oops, getting ahead of myself there).

 

Again, it sounds like a very good idea, but is it enforceable?

[CHE]

viva la paper bag !

 

It's progressive that they've done so.

 

well, qat and smoking in public venues should be banned aswell.

[STOIC]

The case of burning plastic bags requires some questions adressed before it is implemented:is it cost effective? Does it actually preserve resources and benefit the enviroment?.The GDP of Somaliland is not that big compared to the rest of the developed world.This entails that there would be no prevailing "getting and spending" attitude.The cost of switching to enviromentally freindly baskets will not darken the economic prosperity of Somaliland.Yes, the plastic bags do contribute to enviromental problems as stated in the report.The somaliland issue will be different from programs like the one in Germany ( "green Dot" )because their is no packaging industries that can be held responsible for collecting and recycling the packaging waste they generate.Faced with this imperative it is a good action for enacting the ban.Buying the best enviromentally freindly baskets, rather than recycling, is the best way to reduce the enviromental impact.Recycling will require the citizens of Somaliland to take daily simple actions in their daily lives to reduce the enviromental impact of the product they consume (something people don't do often in Africa).If Somaliland had opted to dump the plastics bags in dumping sites, this will have generated a harmfull gaseous emisions, including volatile organic chemicals.We must all realise that saving the enviroment is not that different from saving money.

Ngonge: you shouldn't worry about the Somaliland "haters" because different things matter to different people.

[Suldaanka]

That was a badly needed decision indeed.

 

If they succeed in the capital city alone, that will be at the very least half the battle.

 

I’m not aware of plastic bag factories in Somaliland

To my knowledge, there is one plastic bag making [however small] factory in Hargeisa. It also makes other plastic products.

 

 

“bac ba ku xidhanâ€

Lets hope inanay Policeka bacdu ku xidhmin.

[Sky]

:confused: i thought somaliland allready banned plastic bags like puntland or was it just one area only?

[Passion_4_Fashion]

Caamir sorry ina-adeer maan aqrin hadalki oo dhan....Topic'ga lee igu filnaaday.

 

 

Ngone aka qorox - Somaliland haters kulahaa. waraa adaa'ba dabka bansiin ku shubaayo ee maad iska dhaaftit bacda aad isku xireysit

[NGONGE]

^^^^ Couldn't help it dee

[Passion_4_Fashion]

^ar adigaa

[wind.talker]

Originally posted by NGONGE:

Surely the qaat-chewing brigade will not stand for such nonsense though!

A brigade, eh?

 

What's wrong with plastic bags, though?

[Sky]

the plastic bags suffocate the trees and shrubs in and around the cities. you can practically be warned youre near a city when you see the first plastic bags hanging on trees and shrubs.

[Suldaanka]

Ban on Plastic Bags, Will it Work?

 

 

"The bags have not only become an environmental problem, but also an eyesore," Information Minister Abdillahi Duale told IRIN.

 

It is clear that Hargeisawis have the same sentiments. "Hargeisa was clean before the war, women used traditional baskets when they go to the market and even khat were wrapped in banana leaves. It is sad that now everyone uses plastic indiscriminately." Asmahan Abdisalaam a staunched woman leader of NEGAAD said in an earlier conversation.

 

After the war, Hargeisa witnessed the establishment of a plastic factory in the country . This has made plastic bags readily affordable and available to the public. Last year, some international organizations upon seeing the massive indiscriminate disposal of plastics in the streets have shown interest in providing a recycling facility . This however has yet to materialize.

 

Tisqaad Environment Network Coordinator Sarah Adam Gulaid welcomes the recent government pronouncement. "It is about time that the government takes action on this issue. What remains to be seen however is what follows after the declaration, the implementation." she said.

 

Since 2002, Tisqaad has been conducting awareness campaigns to educate the public about the hazards of the use of plastic bags in the country. Local groups and government officials have been mobilized to take action on this matter.

 

"Change should come from the household level, this would mean intensive awareness campaign should be done so that people learn how to wisely dispose and use plastics. We should see women slowly deciding to carry baskets when they go to the market, unless change like this happens the decree will remain useless." Ms. Gulaid added.

 

She further added that government and international donors should actively work on providing alternatives to the people. "It is not just a matter of saying let us use traditional baskets and indigenous materials, the question is are they available? There should be a viable alternative to plastic which is cheap and readily accessible" she added.

 

Ms. Gulaid cites an experience in Asmara, Eritrea, "When the government declared a ban on plastics, the following day vendors stopped selling plastic bags, they however provided alternatives to customers in the form of cotton sacks and paper bags."

 

What will make it work? Ms. Gulaid stresses that political will should come not only from the government but from the common people as well.