HARARE – All across the world, the single use supermarket plastic carrier bag is being phased out over its harmful effects on the environment. Zimbabwe is, belatedly, catching up.
Finance minister Mthuli Ncube on Thursday outlined plans to steer Zimbabweans away from plastics to more biodegradable alternatives.
The first step is a tax on all plastic bags sold to customers by shops at the tills.
He told MPs during his announcement of the 2025 national budget: “In order to promote the use of biodegradable packaging, I propose to introduce a 20 percent plastic carrier bag tax on the sale value with effect from January 1, 2025.”
Some supermarkets in Zimbabwe do not charge for plastic bags, but under the government’s plan this is likely to change. The government hopes slapping a cost on each plastic bag will discourage their use in the long term.
England introduced a 5 pence charge on plastic bags in 2015, later raised to 10 pence. Last year, supermarkets reported a 98 percent drop in the use of plastic bags at checkout counters.
While many countries are taxing plastic bags to dissuade their use, others have outright banned their use, including Bangladesh which pioneered banning thin, disposable plastic bags in 2002 after they were found to have choked the drainage system during devastating floods.
The initiative encourages using greener jute and cloth bags to promote sustainable practices, with public awareness efforts and alternative bag supplies viewed as key to the transition.
Researchers have found that single-use plastic bags are utilised for only minutes before being discarded. Once disposed of, the plastic bags take a minimum of 20 years to decompose with some types of bags taking up to 500 years.
Pollution from plastics in Zimbabwe has manifested in clogged drains, dirty public spaces and animal deaths from consuming plastics.
