This archive report was first published on 21 October 2019.
On October 21, 2019, Rwanda made history by becoming the first regional country to issue a complete ban on all single-use plastics.
The ban affects a wide range of plastic items, including carry bags, wrappers, plastic containers, bottles, straws, plastic cutlery, folders, and balloons. Plastic duty-free bags are also not authorized to be brought into the country.
The country's efforts to reduce plastic waste date back to 2008, when it first adopted a law against plastic bags. A new law gazetted in August this year adds to the list of other types of plastics deemed equally harmful to the environment.
Failure to adhere to the law will attract hefty penalties or even revocation of trade licenses.
According to Vincent Biruta, the Minister of Environment, the new law is intended to check unnecessary consumption and disposal of single-use plastic items, which are harmful to the environment.
“Producers of single-use plastics have been duly informed in a timely manner and will be required to adjust. There are paper or bamboo alternatives that serve the same purpose without destroying the environment,” he added.
Wenceslas Habamungu, managing director for Ecoplastic, a company that has been recycling plastics and supplying single-use plastics since 2010, expressed mixed feelings about the ban. “We collect over 100 tonnes of plastics across the country and turn them into usable items, we therefore see ourselves as part of this war against environmental degradation,” he said.
