Blowing in the wind

The council of ministers banned the manufacture and use of plastic bags because of environmental concerns but nothing has been done to implement the decision.
The council of ministers banned the manufacture and use of plastic bags because of environmental concerns but nothing has been done to implement the decision.

In the absence of an alternative many hundred kilos of plastic are being used daily across the country despite the passing of two orders to prohibit the use of plastic.

Officers in Kabul Municipality’s sanitation department say plastic is a large part of the some 5,000 tonnes of waste transported out of the city daily.

According to the government order dated Mar 28, 2011,  “The Ministry of Commerce and Industries should stop the production of plastic bags and the Ministry of Finance should through its customs offices ban the import of plastic bags.”  An earlier order of the council of ministers, dated Jan 10, 2011, stated all municipalities should stop the use of plastic bags by Mar 21. Also within this time period the public should be educated about the ill-effects of plastic, and the Ministry of Commerce and trade should find an alternative to plastic bags.

Killid investigated to find nothing has been done, and plastic bags continue to be imported.

Sayed Ehsanudin Taheri who is in charge of monitoring and evaluation of governance, in secretariat of the council of ministers sees the lack of coordination between Ministry of Finance (MoF) and Ministry of Commerce as the main reason for the lack of progress in implementing the decision on banning plastic bags.

Taheri says the two ministries have not even been able to sit together to issue a joint “draft” on replacing plastic bags. Also corruption at the border has prevented the implementation of the ban on imports. “Corruption in custom offices is a big obstacle in the way of the decision taken by the minsters’ council.”

Mohammad Alam Salamat Andarabi, a deputy director of customs,  MoF, says traders have been using a loophole in an amendment to the order of the Council of Ministers to import plastic bags. The amendment allowed the import of “polyethylene plastic bags” following objections from exporters of dry and fresh fruits. “The ministers’ council approved a bill number (July 2011) that allowed the importing of polyethylene plastic bags to be used in packing and exporting of dry and fresh fruits, the medical business and vegetables. But there was a problem. The bill did not specify the quality and quantity of bags,” says Andarabi.

Andarabi denies the charge of corruption in the customs offices and says plastics are smuggled into the country. “The ban on plastic imports only led to smuggling, which has decreased taxes (customs taxes from plastic imports) in the treasury, and increased plastic in the country,” he observes.

Musafer Quqandi, the spokesperson of the Ministry of Commerce says despite attempts to ban at least black plastic bags (cheaper, and poor quality) “until an alternative is found, and unless it is locally manufactured, the prevention of plastic would unfortunately be very difficult.”

Plastic bags are imported from countries in the region, and also Dubai. Ahmad Shah, a trader in Kabul Mandayee says, “We sell daily 100-150 kg plastic bags, most of them are imported from Iran and Pakistan.”

Abdul Ghafour, a wholesaler in plastic bags, says there are at least 35-40 shops similar to his. Asked about the ban on plastics, he says there was a ban but now the situation is fine.

Dr Mohammad Edriss Tokhi, the head of environmental health in Kabul Municipality says, “The concern that we have is that imported plastic has very poor quality and there is no institution that controls quality.”