Despite the ban on non-biodegradable plastic importation and manufacture, the government has granted 918 import exemption certificates since 2015
By Issouf Tapsoba
February 22, 2024. 9:00am
Plastic waste is littered throughout the city, soils, and waterways, and to combat the incessant use of non-biodegradable waste, the government passed Law No. 017-2014/AN on May 20, 2014, prohibiting the production, import, marketing, and distribution of non-biodegradable plastic packaging and bags.
However, in the implementation of the law, the government gave a grace period of six months to allow compliance and sell the stocks that were in their possession at the time of the law’s adoption.
This law forbids non-biodegradable plastic bags and bottles from entering Burkina Faso. It thus allows the use of biodegradable plastic packaging and bags, but users must discard them properly in government-designated areas.
Even though legislation was passed nearly a decade ago, the situation remains dire. Plastic waste continues to pollute the environment. Plastic packaging and bags are used in a variety of settings, including small hawkers and kiosks, vendors, supermarkets, and pharmacies.
An importer of plastic packaging and bags, Abel Kaboré, the manager of Burkina Plast, claims his company follows the law to import “biodegradable” plastics, which come from Côte d’Ivoire, Togo, and Ghana.
Kaboré relies on his suppliers to confirm his products are biodegradable and then, on the government to test and confirm that the plastics he imports are degradable. However, following the lack of government equipment to test his imported plastics, he now relies on the sunlight to confirm whether the imported plastic bags are biodegradable.”
He told The Colonist Report Africa that it is difficult to recognise a biodegradable bag by just looking at it, “nor can we rely solely on the Biodegradable Oxo label.”
Kaboré claims to have devised a technique to manually confirm whether his imported plastics are biodegradable, which works for him. According to him, “All you have to do is expose the bag to the sunlight. After a year, if it is truly biodegradable, it will begin to degrade,” he told The Colonist Report Africa.
Government struggles to enforce non-biodegradability
The Burkina Faso environmental ministry conducted yearly inspections to evaluate compliance with the law that forbids the importation of non-biodegradable plastics. However, since 2021, the government has ceased the inspections due to a lack of funding, according to Anselm Somé, head of Pollution and Nuisance Prevention at the General Direction of Environmental Preservation, a department within the Burkina Faso Ministry of Environment.
The department’s goals are to enhance living circumstances, combat pollution and other annoyances, provide landscaping, and provide environmental education. This particular structure is in charge of regulating plastic bags.
The department issues authorisations (approval and exemption certificates) to structures wishing to import or produce plastic packaging and bags in Burkina.
Somé told The Colonist Report Africa that “nearly 600 type-approval certificates were issued from 2015 to 2022. These certificates have a duration of 2 years. We have also issued 318 certificates of exemption for structures that carry out an activity that requires them to use non-biodegradable plastic bags. It is issued after an investigative visit. So in total, we issued 918 certificates under this law. ” All in all, the tree must not hide the forest because the DGPE faces many difficulties in law enforcement, he affirms.
Aside from funding, which has hampered law enforcement monitoring, Somé told The Colonist Report Africa that the government is having “issues with the calibration of biodegradability test devices for plastic bags. “We have been in contact with the supplier but so far the problem has not been solved. The devices are therefore not functional.”
Five devices were used to control the packaging and plastic bags that are imported or produced in Burkina Faso.
Reducing the usage of plastic bags and encouraging Burkina Faso’s responsibility in the disposal of plastic waste are the other goals of Law No. 017-2014/AN of May 20, 2014. Since plastic pollution still exists, this goal has not been accomplished. One possible explanation for this, in Somé’s opinion, is that the customer was not given the option to choose. “As soon as the law was passed, we had to focus on producing 100% biodegradable packaging so that the consumer could make the choice.
“But when you go to a shop, only the plastic bag is available. Today in Burkina Faso, it is a luxury to have 100% biodegradable packaging, yet this should not be the case,” he lamented before adding that in general, the issue of waste management in the town of Thomas Sankara is a problem of basic education. He thinks that waste management principles should be instilled in kids at a young age.
“As soon as the Burkinabe finishes using the contents of a bag, he necessarily wants to get rid of it instead of keeping it to throw it into the trash,” he said.
The government allocated 750 million FCFA to projects that mobilised in the fight against plastic waste in December 2023, during the fourth call for funding. The project consists of two parts: the creation of plastic substitute packaging and the gathering, handling, and recycling of plastic waste. Only organisations that are legally recognised are allowed to apply, including associations, cooperatives, non-governmental organisations, and economic interest groups.
Kaboré Boukary is a farmer living in a peri-urban area of Ouagadougou who sells plants and oxen. He told The Colonist Report Africa that plastic waste littering the area has killed his livestock, forcing him to sell two oxen.
The Boukary field is situated in an area overrun with plastic waste bags. According to him, the animals become ill after eating non-biodegradable plastic bags in the field. He took the oxen to the veterinary doctor, but the treatment was ineffective, and they began to die. He has no option but to “sell them off,” he said.
He quickly auctioned the oxen for a giveaway rate of 100,000 FCFA and 70,000 FCFA, respectively, rather than the 225,000 FCFA price, to avoid a total loss if they died from ingesting plastic bags found in the field.
Boukary needs to treat the soil to remove microplastics before he can grow good plants to sell. “Whenever I prepare soil for farming, I remove the sachets because they prevent the plant from growing properly.”
He explains that plastic waste on his farm prevents water from seeping into the soil to nourish the plants. “A bunch of lettuce leaves is sold at 10,000 FCFA but can’t be sold the same amount when the leaves don’t produce well.”
He said although the law on restricting non-biodegradable plastic into the country seems to be enforced but questioned whether “all these packaging and plastic bags that pollute the capital are biodegradable.”
Several reports show that the consumption of plastic by land animals has resulted in the deaths of hundreds of animals, including elephants, camels, tigers, and others. A World Economic Forum report also shows that animals are dying as a result of ingesting plastic.
Plastic bags are commonly found in public spaces and landscapes throughout Ouagadougou, the country’s largest city with over 2 million inhabitants. Sidi Mahamadou Cissé, the Technical Advisor to the President of the Special Delegation of the Municipality of Ouagadougou, stated in a local media interview that the capital of Burkina Faso generates 600,000 metric tonnes of household waste a year, of which 90,000 tonnes, or nearly 15%, are plastic waste.
Faithful Erica Bayili, a student and entrepreneur who promotes paper packaging, worries that many people are not showing interest in paper packaging but continue to prefer plastic bags. “ What are we going to have for future generations if we spend our time destroying the environment ? ” she wondered.
Faithful Erica Bayili, a student and entrepreneur who promotes paper packaging, worries that many people are not showing interest in paper packaging but continue to prefer plastic bags. “ What are we going to have for future generations if we spend our time destroying the environment ? ” she wondered.
Editing by Elfredah Kevin-Alerechi and Kevin Woke.
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