Uganda's finance minister on Thursday announced a ban on the importation of plastic bags and containers and imposed a 120 per cent tariff on other plastic imports in a move designed to protect the environment, according to dpa. Finance Minister Ezira Suruma told parliament while presenting the 2007-2008 national budget estimates that Uganda had decided to impose a tough stand on plastics following a recent meeting over the issue by the finance ministers of the regional East African Community that groups Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania. "Prior to the reading of the budget, the three ministers held a consultative meeting on plastics because they were an environment concern. A decision was made to ban plastic bags and containers," Suruma said. Figures regarding the amount of plastic items imported into the country could not readily be obtained but environmentalists have been decrying the mass imports and indiscriminate disposal of plastics which they said had led to the degradation of soils. African countries often have no adequate budget for effective waste management systems, leaving cities and towns dotted with plastic bags, which litter streets and fields and seem to grow from trees like flowers. Several African countries including Rwanda and South Africa have opted for strict measures to reduce the use of plastic bags in their countries.
