Moses Sserunkuuma strides out of Nakasero Market holding a polyethene bag commonly known as kaveera, containing a handful of goods he has purchased for his family.

Incidentally, Sserunkuuma is aware of an existing ban on the trade and use of the kaveera, but since the ban was announced 20 years ago, the father of two has never seen any action taken, and the kaveera has remained the package of choice, at most shopping centres in Uganda.

Although he admits that the kaveera is convenient to carry, he is willing to give it up for a convenient alternative, for the sake of protecting the environment.

Livingstone Ebiru, UNBS executive director, displaying a kaveera below 30 microns at a Uganda Media Centre press briefing in 2021.

It has been observed that recycling materials of 30 microns and less such as the plastic bags is hard because they are hard to collect and, therefore, to recycle.

The kaveera is scientifically proven to take up to 400 years to decompose and even then, it decomposes into granules that are hazardous to humans and animals when ingested.

The ban on kaveera goes back to 2002 when the National Environmental Management Authority (NEMA) and other environmentalists started talking about environmental protection.

In 2002, Greenwatch, a non-governmental organisation sued NEMA and the Attorney General in the High Court over the plastic shopping bags.

Ten years later High Court Judge Eldad Mwangusya directed NEMA and the Attorney General to create regulations banning the manufacture, use, distribution and sale of plastic bags and containers of less than 100 microns thick.

In addition, a levy to help in environmental restoration was approved by the High Court, to restore the environment to the state in which it was before it was destroyed by plastics.

All this was to be included in a Bill which would become law. In 2009 and 2010, the Government enacted the Finance Act, 2009 and the Finance (Permitted Plastic Bags and Other Plastics for Exceptional Use) Regulations of 2010.

The 2009 Finance Act prohibited the importation, local manufacture, sale or use of polyethylene bags and materials. The ban specifically affected plastic carrier bags used for conveyance of goods.

The law did not provide for specific microns because the other permitted plastics for exceptional use may vary in microns, Daniel Babikwa, the director District Support Co-ordination and Public Education at NEMA, said.

The Government embarked on the enforcement of the ban in 2015 under the Finance Act 2009.

“The opposition resulted into a temporary court injunction which prevented the Government from further enforcement and as such reducing the momentum of the anti-plastic pollution drive,” Babikwa says.

The Government later reviewed the environment law (the National Environment Act 2019) and banned all plastic carrier bags of 30 microns and below.

Section 76 says the import, export, local manufacture, use or re-use of categories of plastic carrier bags or plastic products made of polymers of ethene (polythene) and propylene (polypropylene) is prohibited, except for plastic carrier bags or plastic products made of polymers of ethene (polythene) and propylene (polypropylene) of above 30 microns.

Section 97 of the Act prohibits littering. The Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS) has the responsibility of enforcing the anti-plastic regulation under the NEMA Act. The law requires labelling of plastics for easy traceability.

However, after false starts to the much-hyped bans on plastics, the problem of plastic bags has not gone away.

Why ban has failed

Kampala City Traders Association (KACITA) spokesperson Issa Ssekitto, says the reason the kaveera ban has failed is because the product is light, cheap and convenient and has as a result become the package of choice for all shoppers and traders.

Ssekitto says the traders have petitioned President Yoweri Museveni many times, protesting against the law, because to them, it appears to be discriminatory, and only intended to throw them out of business.

 Ssekitto says about 70% of the plastic shopping bag market is controlled by low quality imports from Kenya, South Africa and India, and so before addressing production on the local market, the Government needs to address the issue of cheap imports.

“At the moment, there is a lot of smuggling of plastic bags going on, through Dr Congo and Kenya, most of which do not meet the 30 microns requirement. Therefore, the reasons for the persistence of the kaveera on the market are many, and until the Government stands up to stop this from happening, kaveera will continue,” he says.

He wants the Government to encourage recycling, because not only does it create jobs, but helps to rid the environment of plastic litter.

He says the Government can pass punitive laws against littering plastics to control the careless disposal of used bags, because although consumers know the effects of kaveera on the environment, most just don’t care as they dispose of their used bags.

Ssekitto says the companies manufacturing kaveera pay an environmental levy which should be ploughed back into efforts geared towards weeding the environment of plastic waste.

“All kaveera and plastics can be dangerous. In fact, the higher the microns the greater the danger it causes to the society because it will take hundreds of years for it to decompose,” he says.

He also emphasizes the need for a law on the disposal of kaveera and littering management, citing South Africa as an example, which he says has gazetted and labelled garbage tins, accommodating both decomposing and non-decomposing products.

“This is what Uganda must learn to do so that we make it easy for companies that are recycling to pick up the products when they are clean and isolated,” he suggests.

Ssekitto says Rwanda is able to sustain the ban on kaveera because of the strategic development it chose, noting that Uganda chose industrialisation and value addition while Rwanda chose information communication and technology.

Rwanda enacted the ban on kaveera in 2008.

In 2013, the Rwanda Environmental Management Authority confessed that the kaveera still finds its way into the country through smuggling cartels.

In the US, California is one of the three leading states that have enforced the ban. But still there are challenges.

The KACITA chairperson, Thaddeus Musoke, suggested that the Government compels companies manufacturing kaveera to invest more in recycling in order to protect the environment.

“Some people pick kaveera and plastic bottles and sell in them in kilos. We need to change the perception of Ugandans of not littering kaveera,” Musoke says.

Dr Barirega Akankwasah, the executive director NEMA, said the ban was initially intended for kaveera in all its forms, but was later revised in 2019, to target kaveera of 30 microns.

At that time, he says, the responsibility of NEMA to enforce the law was handed to standards watchdog, UNBS, making it difficult for NEMA to continue with its enforcement drive.

“Apparently, UNBS is mostly concerned with standards. As long as the kaveera conforms to the standards, UNBS does not care whether it is littered on the streets, in wetlands and so on, because that is not its mandate. This arrangement, as you can see, cannot protect the environment,” he says.

Additionally, he too admits that it is impossible to enforce the 30 microns kaveera ban, since it is literally impossible to detect the size with the naked eyes.

Technically, a micron is a unit of length that equals one millionth of a metre according to the International Bureau of Weights and Measures.

The micron is comparable to a strand of hair. However, Akankwasah gleams with hope, knowing that the law will be soon revised to deal with the anomalies and enable NEMA to once again enforce the ban on the dangerous plastics polluting the environment.

He also thinks the Government should learn to make decisions and stick to them, because shifting positions is what has failed the implementation of the kaveera ban for instance.

“We need to make decisions and make sure that we implement them like in Rwanda. Here we have fluctuations in our decision-making processes and this affects implementation,” he says.

Alternatively, Akankwasah suggests Ugandans could revert to using woven bags (bikapu) for shopping, since they are equally convenient, longer lasting and environmentally friendly.

“When we were growing up, we used to use the bikapu in the place of kaveera today. In school we were also using bags made of cotton. In addition, we can also use buckets to carry things such as fish and meat,” he suggests.

Polythene bags contain dangerous chemicals that mix with food when heated, although sadly, most hot snacks in Uganda are served in these bags, posing a great risk to human health.

Key facts and figures n Uganda generates 600 tonnes of plastics daily n About 40% of plastic waste is collected for recycling n 60% of plastics is left in the environment n Scientists say plastics cause infertility, cancer, lung disease and birth defects.

Kaveera linked to cancer

Dr Simon Mukisa, a general practitioner, said one of the chemicals plastics contain is Bisphenol-A(BPA) which has a high propensity for causing cancer.

“Other diseases one may suffer from include ulcers, and reproductive problems in women. It is, therefore, important for the Government to draft tough laws against the reckless use, litter and if possible, access to some of these plastics,” he says.

A source from the Uganda Plastics Manufacturers and Recyclers Association (UPMRA), who preferred anonymity, says there are more than 70 manufacturers of plastic materials in Uganda, although only about half of them are registered under UPMRA.

The source says one of the challenges in tracking the kaveera is that there is no label showing which manufacturer is making the kaveera below the specified 30 microns, in order to enforce punitive measures against those who break the law.

“Even if you find the kaveera in the shops, all you can do is to destroy that batch, but that does not stop the manufacturer from going on with their duties,” he says.

Alternatively, he adds, the Government should make it a requirement for every manufacturer to have a unique identifying label on their product, to help in easily identifying those who are breaking the law.