Plastic bags are a real scourge. In fact, they are harmful to the environment and kill thousands of animals each year. They are dumped into our countryside and beaches releasing their poison everywhere and ending up in the soil.

Tunisians consume one billion plastic bags each year, of which 30% (approximately 315 million of them) comes from the large supermarkets. Those 315 million bags are equal to 10,000 tons of plastic waste according to the ministry.

In an effort to phase plastic bags out, the Ministry of Local Affairs and Environment has  signed an agreement with the supermarket union chamber in 2016 . This agreement, which was effective from the 1st of March, prohibits the distribution of single-use plastic bags.

The ban on plastic bags in supermarkets entered into force in March 2017 in Tunisia, a country facing a marked deterioration of its environment in recent years.

The alternative is not difficult to find, in fact, we could use the traditional Tunisian basket (the Koffa) or other ecological bags.

The minister describes that approach as ?gradual? and which in a few months will result in a total ban on the manufacture and sale of plastic bags in Tunisia.

The idea is to encourage the factories to produce, using the same technologies, reusable bags that will be sold for use several times. It is also about changing the behavior of the consumer to control the use of plastic bags and think about alternative solutions.

The ministry has therefore opted for a progressive approach, in several stages instead of a global and radical approach which will not work.

So, will these plastic bags completely be eliminated by the end of the year? Will the environmental police control this issue, especially outside supermarkets? The coming months will provide an answer.

sources :

Huffpost

Treehugger