Historic: Tunisia to Ban Plastic Bags

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Historic: Tunisia to Ban Plastic Bags
by \| 14-04-2016 02:51 0
Tunisia is set to implement her ban on plastic bags. The North African country in February 2016 announced through her ministry of Environment her intention to ban the manufacturing, export and distribution of non-biodegradable plastic bags. The country uses an average of one billion plastic bags a year with less about eight hundred million of them not recycled. Tunisia is looking to implement this proposal by 2017 and will be the first Arab country to do so. Plastic bags are a major source of lingering pollution as they are not biodegradable and easily find their way to the sea and into the alimentary canal of our aquatic lives. More often than not, we really do not need these plastic bags but just feel obliged to have them as part of the services we believe we had paid for. Also, it has been widely reported that by 2050, they will more plastic in our water bodies than fishes and this is a good step towards stopping that. It is really great news for Africa that Tunisia is making this huge commitment towards environmental sustainability and I hope other countries feel challenged to follow suit. This will now likely lead to the production of bags with recycled materials or paper/pulp materials. If it must be produced using wood as the raw material, at least double of the used quantity should be replanted to ensure that deforestation does not creep in. The announcement has naturally got business owners thriving on plastic bags annoyed but this is part of the sacrifice we all must make to save our planet. Photo: alaraby.co.uk

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12 Comments

says :
Udeh! what a great news! Just like minjoo said up there, I wonder how the people are reacting to the change! If they are not genuinely interested in making the society greener, I guess some people can grunt about the inconvenience :D but which i think is the small price they have to pay for their better future! Thanks for letting us know! and hope to see you again next soon!
Posted 23-04-2016 22:12

says :
This is a fantastic milestone. I really hope plastic bags are banned in Bangladesh as well. Your country should be taken as a key role model for other nations to follow in terms of making environmental progress. It was a nice read :)
Posted 15-04-2016 23:11

says :
Glad to know about the initiation of plastic ban in your country.As Bindu di said it's sad but true that ban in plastic of differnt cities of my country hasnt been actually working. Still people rely on plastics,because there was lack of effective homework before implementing these regulations. Hope it doesnt happen like that there. Green world is all we need. Thanks for sharing. :)
Posted 15-04-2016 20:37

says :
I had read about this but I didn't want to believe it until it is effectively implemented and sustained. Ghana did the same thing by announcing the ban on plastics but the implementation here is very poor
Posted 15-04-2016 10:59

Daniel Ricardo says :

Very good news the same way as tunez Colombia is beginning to leave behind the plastic bags , although in our culture of Latinos is hard to stop because it is the way in which we carry food and is day to a routine day claim bag for each item purchased , although some stores while cloth or paper bags are used I hope that my country follow this initiative :D good luck
Posted 15-04-2016 03:01

says :
We hope other nations will follow Tunisia's lead and ban plastic bags as well. Thanks for sharing the story Udeh
Posted 14-04-2016 20:54

says :
Dear Minjoo,

The Tunisian government has prepared and set the prohibitive bill to the parliament and when it goes through, will give manufacturing companies one year to transition to biodegradable bags. There will be support for companies that will be producing the biodegradable bags.
Posted 14-04-2016 19:06

says :
Great to read all your comments. We hope more countries follow suit and that the implementation is sustainable.

Posted 14-04-2016 19:04

says :
Udeh, congrats for Tunisia to ban on the use of plastic bags! Concerning responses from big firms and citizens, decision from the government is a very courageous one. I wish to know more specifically how the nation is going to push this action are they making businesses to pay the fine or are they supporting with subsidies to purchase bio-degradable bags? Thanks for such a good news, and hope you have a great day!
Posted 14-04-2016 16:16

says :
Wow! such a wonderful news. I am so happy to know Tunisia all set to ban plastic bags. But I am a bit skeptic, as single use plastic bags were legally banned in Kathmandu city of my country but the implementation and monitoring was so poor that still lots of people rely on these bags.
But I hope the successful ban on plastic bags in Tunisia :)
Posted 14-04-2016 15:01

Adam Zhou says :
The ban on plastic bags is also implemented in some parts of Metro Manila where I am from. I hope more campaigning on the issue is done as to have this topic spread to a global reach. Thank you for the report!
Posted 14-04-2016 11:31