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CSOs plan march to press for plastic ban

Almost 10 environmental conscious Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) have organised a march next week Friday to protest the use of thin plastic papers in the country.

The CSOs will present a petition to the High Court of Malawi to speed up judgment on the ban of thin plastics in the country.  The group says unsustainable use of plastics is causing environmental as well as social problems in Malawi.

The initial attempt to ban thin plastics was introduced in December 2012 but was suspended a month later as the Plastic Manufacturers Association of Malawi (Pmam) obtained a court order against the ban.

But government on June 30 2015 went ahead to ban the use, sale, production, exportation and importation of plastic bags of less than 60 microns, a decision that angered some manufacturers and they obtained an injunction in 2016.

Tired of waiting for the vacation of the injunction, CSOs in the environment sector are pushing for a ruling on the matter; hence, want to petition the High Court on the matter.

Speaking to journalists in Blantyre on Tuesday, Coordination Union for Relief Environment (Cure) executive director Chris Mwambene said they will not stop fighting until thin plastics in the country have been banned.

“This is our first attempt, if it fails we will come up with another move. What we want is the court to come up with the judgment on the matter that use of thin papers should be banned as directed by government,” he said.

University of Malawi’s environmental scientist lecturer at the Polytechnic Floney Kabaghe, said the use of thin plastic papers has a huge bearing on the environment since they do not degrade.

“They may stay in the environment for 1 000 years without any decomposition. So, they may end up being deposited in water bodies or in the land that cause entanglement of wild life,” she said.

“They may cause trouble to fish if they eat these plastics by mistake. The plastic will block internal organs in the body. We might kill a lot of animals, this is the danger we want to protect.”

Among the CSOs to march are Centre for Environmental Policy and Advocacy (Cepa), Churches Action in Relief and Development (Card), Wildlife and Environmental Society of Malawi (Wesm), Association for Environmental Journalist (AEJ), Malawi Creation Care Network and the Polytechinc.

Meanwhile, AEJ will today hold a march in Lilongwe commemorating the Environment Day whose theme this year is ‘Beating plastic pollution’.

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