Somalia's beaches are drowning in plastic. Photo of people on a mountain of plastic
Hassan Ali Elmi
By AFP - Agence France Presse
Somalia struggles to get rid of plastic despite the ban
By Mustafa HAJI ABDINUR
Somalia took the ambitious step of banning single-use plastic bags this year, but in a country with many economic challenges, the measure has proved difficult to implement.
This follows similar plastic bans in other East African countries, including Kenya and Tanzania.
However, brightly colored polyethylene still predominates in the markets and stores of Somalia's capital, Mogadishu.
Long plagued by conflict, Somalia passed its law in February but only implemented it in October. Despite some arrests, there are few signs that it is having an impact.
“We are using these bags because they are cheap and people can afford them,” trader Abdikarim Hassan told AFP at his stall full of plastic-wrapped products in a market in central Mogadishu.
“Everyone knows the negative consequences of using these plastic bags, but the question is: what do we have to replace them?”
The price difference is stark. More environmentally friendly options, such as disposable paper bags, cost around four times as much: at least 4,000 Somali shillings (US$ 0.17 at the widely used unofficial exchange rate) compared to 1,000 shillings (US$ 0.04) for simple plastic bags.
Meanwhile, more than half of the population lives below the poverty line, according to the government.
“If we are forced to stop [using] plastic bags, we don't have a cheap alternative that can replace them,” said Shamso Muqtar, a 41-year-old mother of five who sells vegetables at the market.
“The government should have evaluated the issue.”
Garad Abdullahi Ali, from the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change, said that the continued presence of plastic is because traders stocked up before the ban.
“They are allowed to continue selling... until the stock in the country runs out,” he told AFP.
The more upmarket boutiques and supermarkets, which cater to the city's small middle class, were more receptive to the new legislation.
“It's a positive sign, I hope all the supermarkets will start using it too,” said Ahmed Roble, owner of a boutique on Mogadishu's popular Maka Al-Mukarama Road.
Supermarket customer Abdirahman Omar Mohamed said he was happy to see less of something that was “killing human beings and animals.”
In 2019, the world produced around 460 million tons of plastic, double the level of 2000, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
Plastic production is expected to triple by 2060.
The United Nations Environment Program estimates that the equivalent of 2,000 truckloads of plastic waste is dumped into seas, rivers, and lakes every day.
Many tons of this waste can be seen on the once bucolic beaches near Mogadishu, snaking through the sand in piles of garbage.
Volunteers like Abdisatar Arabow Ibrahim are trying to solve the problem.
“I think the government should have implemented this law banning the use of plastic bags a long time ago,” he said.
“People should obey it,” he added, ”to protect the environment and future generations.
str-rbu/er/giv
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