Kaveera ban: Who wins, who loses in the phase-out?
Newly installed city flowerpot overflows with plastic bags commonly known as buveera. Nema has effected a ban on kaveera. Photo by Abubaker Lubowa
What you need to know:
In various parts of the world, there has been a phase-out of lightweight plastic bags. Last month, Uganda effected a ban on import and manufacture of plastic bags as a way of protecting the environment. However, the ban has implications.
For the last six years, the ban on manufacture of plastic bags, sale and use generated a lot of debate diving environmentalists on one side and the manufacturers on the other.
When the National Environment Management Authority (Nema) announced the implementation of the ban after years of hesitation, manufacturers opposed the move. Many sought political intervention to halt the move.
Under their umbrella body, the Uganda Plastics Manufactures and Recyclers Association (UPMRA), they wrote a letter to President Museveni: “……we request for your intervention and rescue in order to save and protect our investments in this country by halting the ban…” the letter reads in part.
About the ban
In 2009, Syda Bbumba, the then minister for Finance, during her Budget speech, pronounced a ban on polythene bags of less than 30 microns that were used “for conveyance of goods and liquid in order to protect our environment” and an excise duty of 120 per cent was imposed on other plastic materials. A moratorium of six months was given to the public as a transition period as kaveera manufacturers reduced the import and manufacture of the said bags. However, the failure to implement the ban led to more importation and manufacture.
Since the appeal to President Museveni was made, the government has instituted a committee comprising representatives of manufacturers, Nema, Trade, Environment and Agriculture ministries to handle the matter.
who benefits most from the ban?
Statistics from agriculture ministry show that 125,000 square kilometres (30,887,500 acres) of Uganda’s land area is arable.
As a result, more than 80 per cent of the population depends on agriculture for income and food.
This is despite poor post-harvest handling, climate change; with some regions experiencing prolonged droughts, limited value additions and land fragmentation. Crop export in 2013/2014 fetched Shs85b for the country and provided dietary needs for an estimated 35 millon people.
The figures could be much higher since there is a lot of undocumented trade between bordering districts.
It is against this background that Okaasai Opolot, the director ,crop resources in the Ministry of Agriculture, says Uganda stands to lose such gains should the ban on polythene bags be lifted.
“Buveera block water from entering the soils. How do you expect crops to grow? Some animals eat them and die. For us, we do not want polythene anymore. It affects us more than any other ministry,” Opolot says.
He adds that plastics take up to 400 years to decompose in the soil.
In spite of all these assertions, UPMRA members, in a letter signed by Uganda Manufacturers Association executive director, Ssebagala Kigozi, want implementation of the ban halted on basis of more than $8.5m (about Shs25.1b) invested over the last 21 years.
Also, the group says they have contributed Shs4.5b, in taxes, have employed 2,800 full-time employees and another 6,000 part time workers in production, recollection, transport and reclining.
Daily Monitor could not independently verify the capital investments from the group.
Efforts to get more information from the affected companies were futile by press time.
But Opolot says: “If you say a section of people will lose jobs [2,800], how many will lose jobs if the soils are affected,” and then adds, “Their argument is not substantive and in any case, there are alternatives. We have papyrus and people can make carrier mats that are environmental friendly.
Dr Tom Okurut, executive director, Nema says with public acceptance of the kaveera ban, the agency cannot look back despite resistance from the manufacturers.
He is quick to add that so far 12 tonnes of plastic bags have been collected and all the big supermarkets have stopped using polythene bags.
“The implementation has now gone to local governments and markets,” Dr Okurut says.
He insists that employees at polythene manufacturing factories cannot lose jobs because the factories make other products.
Widespread problem
Across the country, the menace of kaveera is felt. From one street to another, plastics are littered ubiquitously in all forms of bottles, carrier bags, and water or alcohol sachets.
Annually, statistics from Nema, indicate about 39,600 tonnes of polythene waste is released into the environment.
Most of it accumulates in the soil. Uganda has more than 25 factories manufacturing polythene bags but recycling stands at 0.6 per cent.
That notwithstanding, UPMRA accuses Nema of selective application of the law. “While the law has to be ably applied to local manufacturers, the same is not true for i polythene which continues to be imported into and sold in the country almost unchecked,” one of their correspondences with the environment watchdog reads in part.
Dr Okurut, however, clarifies, “Uganda Revenue Authority stopped the importation of kaveera unless it enters Uganda through smuggling.’’
Impact on revenue collection
Ministry of Finance spokesperson Jim Mugunga said:
“The enforcement of the ban has no revenue implications to the budget because we adequately prepared, provided and projected alternate sources for shortfalls, if any, that would relate to this particular source.”
He added: “We associate strongly with measures that are adopted to protect the environment and ensure better living conditions for more than 34 million Ugandans at large.”
The proposal
But Sebaggala thinks otherwise. He says: “It is best to put emphasis on anti-littering regulations and bylaws as a global best practice for all nations that use polythene.” He believes there is need for an urgent effort in redrafting, editing and or updating laws and regulation for littering and poor disposal to reduce the costs, inconvenience, time and labour of cleaning cities and communities in Uganda.
But Environment minister Flavia Munaba says some investors are just selfish.
“Some manufacturers are just selfish. Can they allow buveera to be everywhere [and destroy the environment] if Uganda was their country?”, she asked while wondering why plastics companies have done little to recycle their waste.
Plastic bags ban around the world
Some countries and cities that have banned kaveera include Rwanda, City of San Francisco, California.
Mexico City too adopted the ban while Indian cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Karwar, Tirumala, Vasco, Rajasthan all have a ban on plastic bag usage.
Kaveera crisis
The kaveera has been responsible for blockage of drainage channels and sewers, which causes floods and stagnation of water leading to increase in incidence of diseases such as malaria.
Once integrated in the soil, it blocks the percolation of water, hence affecting soil fertility. It also kills domestic animals which ingest it while feeding.
The win-win situation
In case the ban is sustained, the crafts-making industry stands to benefit.
Already, carrier mats, paper bags, nylon manufacturers are currently filling the gap originally ocupied by polythene bags.
About the law
Parliament passed a law on the total ban on the use of kaveera in 2010 but implementation has not been possible due to cries from manufacturers over claims of massive investments in industrial machinery. Section 3 of the Finance Act, Regulation 4 of SI No. 32, reads in part, “It is prohibited for a person to manufacture, import, sell, use, distribute or otherwise deal in plastics bags except plastic women bags for the packaging and conveyance of goods and plastic bags and other plastics for exceptional uses …”
The law, however, allows the manufacturer and use of polythene bags meant for industrial purposes, agricultural use, medical, research and science, sanitation, construction and exports.
Moses Talibita, an official from Uganda National Health Users/Consumers Organisation (UNHCO), a non-governmental organisation, urges the government not to backtrack on the ban to save lives
“Most restaurants use polythene bags to cover food as they cook, and the chemicals they emit cause diseases like cancer. We support the ban strongly,” Talibita says.
There has been an upsurge in the country in the number of people suffering from diseases attributed to lifestyle changes.
In 2012, more than 2,800 new cancer cases were registered up from 1,800 in 2011 at the Uganda Cancer Institute.
However, manufacturers and traders insist that plastic carrier bags of more than 30 microns were not banned, noting that their campaign now focuses on best disposal practices
The spokesperson Kampala City Traders Association Issa Ssekitto, says it’s against this background that manufacturers of buveera have invested more than $22m in plastic recycling units.
Okurut says the 2009 budget provisions are still in place and bans any use of buveera and as such the crackdown will continue.
