Malawi yesterday held joint commemorations of 2023 International Day for Biodiversity and World Environment Day with an appeal to the Judiciary to expedite judgement on the thin plastics case.

Speaking during the event in Lilongwe, Minister of Natural Resources and Climate Change Michael Usi said the delay to conclude the case is a major bottleneck in the fight against plastic pollution in the country.

Thin plastics are said to be hazardous to health

His remarks come a week after a group of 20 non-governmental organisations and civil society groups petitioned Chief Justice Rizine Mzikamanda over a delayed ruling on the case which started in 2015.

In his address yesterday, Usi said: “Let me take this opportunity to appeal to our Judiciary system to act swiftly to conclude the court case that is preventing government to enforce the ban on thin plastics.

“Let me also ask captains of the plastic industry to rethink their actions and start producing environmentally friendly alternatives to plastics such as paper bags to reduce the threat that plastics pause to human health and the environment.”

Malawi produces over 70 000 metric tonnes of plastic every year, 80 percent of which is single-use plastic.

Usi said the thin plastics were hazardous to people’s lives as they find their way into food, water and the air people breathe, “thereby poisoning our bodies”.

“Plastic is made from fossil fuels and the more plastic we produce, the more fossil fuel we burn thereby contributing to global warming which causes climate change,” he said.

Representing the civil society organisations, Coordination Unit for the Rehabilitation of the Environment Malawi executive director Reginald Mumba called for the development of regulations for the Disaster Risk Management Act which has recently been assented to, to facilitate enforcement of the Act.

He further called for an accelerated policy reform for incentivising the private sector that are involved in the production of alternatives to plastics “to close the plastic generating tap”.

“We also need responsible messaging by our political leaders by not misleading the citizens to settle in disaster risky areas just to gain election votes. We consider such behaviour as not being patriotic to our Mother Malawi and Mother Earth,” Mumba said.

Lilongwe City Council Deputy Mayor Esther Sagawa said the council is overwhelmed with plastic pollution, calling on residents to play their role in keeping the city clean by avoiding the use of thin plastic which takes as long as 1 000 years to decompose.

The Poverty-Environment Action for Sustainable Development Goals (PEA) Project (Malawi Programme) Document of 2022 reports that unsustainable natural resource use is estimated to cost Malawi 5.3 percent of gross domestic product every year, thereby reducing economic growth and negatively impacting poverty reduction efforts.

The report further estimates that a 10 percent decrease in natural forest cover leads to an increase in flood frequency from four percent to 28 percent.

In February this year, Malawi experienced Cyclone Freddy, the worst cyclone to hit the country killing 679 people and rendering 659 278 others homeless.

The day was commemorated under the theme ‘Build back biodiversity, beat plastic pollution’. International Day for Biological Diversity falls on May 5 while World Environment Day falls on June 5.

In 2021, Golden Plastics Limited obtained a stay order restraining Malawi Environment Protection Authority from implementing the 2015 ban pending appeal in a case where the company is challenging the government on provision of the Plastics Regulations (2015).

In the East African Community, thin plastics are totally banned. n

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