Somalia took the ambitious step of banning single-use plastic bags this year, but in a country with many economic challenges, it has proved hard to implement.
It follows similar plastic bans in other east African countries including Kenya and Tanzania.
But brightly-coloured polythene still dominates in the markets and shops of Somalia’s capital Mogadishu.
Long bedevilled by conflict, Somalia passed its law in February, but did not implement it until October. Despite a few arrests, there is little sign it is having an impact.
“We are using these bags because they are cheap and people can afford them,” grocer Abdikarim Hassan told AFP, from his stall stacked with plastic-wrapped goods in a central Mogadishu market.
“Everybody knows the negative consequences of using these plastic bags, but the question is: What do we have to replace them?”
The price difference is stark. More eco-friendly options, such as disposable paper bags, cost around four times more: at least 4,000 Somali shillings ($0.17 at the widely used unofficial exchange rate) compared with 1,000 shillings ($0.04) for simple plastic bags.
Meanwhile, more than half of the population lives below the poverty line, according to the government.
“If we are forced to stop [using] the plastic bags, we don’t have an alternative that is cheap and can replace it,” said Shamso Muqtar, a 41-year-old mother-of-five, who sells vegetables at the market.
“The government should have evaluated the matter”.
– ‘Keep selling’ –
Garad Abdullahi Ali, from the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change, said the continued presence of plastic was due to traders stocking up before the ban.
“They are allowed to continue selling… until what is in stock in the country is exhausted,” he told AFP.
Higher end boutiques and supermarkets — catering to the city’s small middle-class — have been more welcoming of the new legislation.
“This a positive sign, I hope all the grocers start using it too,” said Ahmed Roble, a boutique owner along Mogadishu’s popular Maka Al-Mukarama Road.
Supermarket customer Abdirahman Omar Mohamed said he was glad to see less of something that was “killing human beings and animals”.
In 2019, the world produced around 460 million tonnes of plastic, double the level in 2000, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
And plastic production is expected to triple by 2060.
The United Nations Environment Programme estimates the equivalent of 2,000 garbage trucks of plastic is dumped into seas, rivers and lakes every day.
Many tonnes of this rubbish can be seen on the formerly bucolic beaches near Mogadishu, snaking down the sand in festering piles.
Volunteers like Abdisatar Arabow Ibrahim try to tackle the problem.
“I think the government is long overdue in implementing this law prohibiting the use of plastic bags,” he said.
“People must comply,” he added, “to safeguard the environment and future generations.”
