Seychelles is the latest country in Africa to bid bye to plastic bags. Rising from its meeting close to a fortnight ago, the Seychelles Cabinet of Ministers approved a ban on the importation of plastic materials including plates, cups, cutlery, Styrofoam lunch boxes and plastic bags.  

The country is currently drafting relevant documentation that will assist in making the violation of the ban punishable by law. The ban will come in place by January with locals given a further six months to get rid of any plastic ware on their shelves. Consequently, by July 2017, plastic wares will not be found in any shop in Seychelles.

Seychelles News Agency quoted the Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Environment, Energy and Climate Change, Alain Decomarmond to have said thus, "We envisage that once the ban comes into force in January, businesses which still have these items in stock will have until the end of June to get rid of their stocks and switch to environmentally-friendly alternatives"

"When we announced our intention last year to ban and eventually phase out these products, we worked on a mechanism to remove taxes on any bio-degradable items so importers of these products stand to benefit when they switch to environmentally friendly products,"  he added.

They join Rwanda, Kenya, Uganda, South Africa, Botswana, Somalia, Ethiopia and Eritrea as some of the countries in Africa to have banned the use of plastic bags and other plastic wares. The debate however has always centered on how the policy is been implemented and for the Seychelles, that may be the case again. The Small Island Developing State is in dare need of such policy to safeguard its already threatened coasts and plastics constitute 33% of its public waste currently.

Rwanda and Botswana seem to have the most efficient anti-plastic models in Africa Seychelles knack for excellence may see them join the exemplary duo soon. Africa is setting a great example here.   

                                        

Photo by: Seychelles News Agency