By Zainab Calcuttawala
By Zainab Calcuttawala
Rabat – The public prosecutor for the city of Sale announced on Saturday the arrest of a man in possession of five tons of plastic bags – an amenity that Morocco banned as part of the kingdom’s new environmentally friendly policies.
Members of the Royal Gendarmerie took the trader into custody after an investigation revealed he had stored massive amounts of plastic bags in a warehouse in Tit Mellil, where he also kept nearly four tons of the preliminary plastics needed to form the bags.
The man is the first to be arrested under the anti-plastic bag law, which went into effect in July.
Morocco was the second largest consumer of plastics bags in the world – behind only the United States – before law 77-15, nicknamed the “Zero Mika” initiative, banned the import, sale and production of the toxic bags.
The kingdom uses three billion plastic bags per year, according to the Industry Ministry – meaning, on average, a single Moroccan uses 900 plastic bags a year. The ubiquity of the bags means the new measure could take years for citizens to get used to, according to green campaigners.
Still, it is a small price to pay for preservation of the environment, especially as the country prepares to host the United Nations Convention on Climate Change, or COP22, next month.
Plastic bags take hundreds of year to disintegrate, unlike bags made of paper or other biodegradable substances.
Several other African countries – including South Africa, Uganda, Somalia and Rwanda – already have similar provisions in place.
