Re your article about “Plastic City” on the outskirts of the Philippine capital of Manila (The villagers who are forced to live with the world’s waste, 9 September), we have just returned from Tabora town in Tanzania, having worked as volunteers for 10-week periods over the past 20 years. Our final trip revealed an amazing and extraordinary fact that Tanzania has recently banned all plastic bags, with not a black plastic bag to be seen in the streets, which hitherto was a common sight in the ditches, on the roads and in fact everywhere. These black bags were given to you in the market and from small roadside stalls selling fruit and veg, clothes and much more.
In May this year Tanzania passed a law making the use of plastic bags an offence with a hefty fine or imprisonment. The law was implemented within a month, ie on 1 June, and the effect was immediate, with all stalls and shops using a new paper-based bag in varying sizes and colours.
Tanzania, a country 81st in the UN GDP listing (the UK is fourth), has done this, and the people we spoke to were very much in favour and, poor though they are, pay a few pence extra for a paper-based bag which can be used time and time again.
As a wealthy western country, all our government has done is bring in a small charge on single-use bags which, while dramatically reducing their use, still does not address the problem completely. This pussyfooted decision is a reflection on our government’s priorities – no doubt largely influenced by aggressive commercial lobbying.
Phil Barlow
Nottingham
• Our nine-year-old granddaughter visiting us on Sunday: “Granny, why are you keeping the paper straws in a plastic container?” Why indeed!
Helen Evans
Ruthin, Denbighshire
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