Malawi Environmental Protection Authority (Mepa) has penalised three plastic manufacturers and two distributors in Blantyre for violating regulations on thin plastics.
During an inspection yesterday, Mepa shut down GS Plastics at Maone Industrial Park after officials found production of thin plastics in progress.
The authority also fined manufacturers Polypack Limited and OG Plastics along with distributors Phoso Plastic Shop and GS Plastics, K5 million each.
The inspection established that there were several violations, including presence of thin plastics and failure to label manufacturer name or recycle symbols on the plastics.
Mepa inspectors said that manufacturers deliberately omit labels to avoid being linked to non-compliant products.
Mepa environment information and education manager Aubren Chirwa said GS Plastics factory was immediately shut down because most of the plastics manufactured are below the permitted 60 microns.
“We have also noted occupational health hazards posing risk to workers so we have closed company until the issues are addressed,” he said.
Chirwa said the authority has fined more than 50 companies this year, but added that there are indications that some of the banned products are being smuggled into the country.
“We are working with other agencies to curb smuggling of the plastics into the country,” he said.
But a manager at Polypack, who asked not to be identified, faulted Mepa for targetting manufacturers, saying the thin plastics on the market are not being produced locally.
The manager said the company will ensure that all its products bear its name.
At Phoso Plastics, a manager who did not want to identify herself, claimed that the plastics in her shop were procured before the ban came into effect.
In May, Mepa also sealed a company in Lilongwe for flouting the Environmental Management (Plastics) Regulations (2015) Act banning the production and use of thin plastics in Malawi.
Government initially banned the manufacturing, distribution, sale, exportation and importation of thin plastic bags of less than 60 microns in 2015.
Since then, a series of court orders obtained by plastic manufacturers stopped Mepa from enforcing the ban.
On January 31 2025, the High Court of Malawi in Lilongwe discharged an injunction which 11 thin plastic manufacturers obtained last July stopping the government from enforcing a ban.
A 2019 study by the United Nation Development Programme estimated that Malawi produces 75 000 tonnes of plastic per year, of which 80 percent is reportedly single-use plastic.
