The national environment watchdog has cautioned businesses in the City of Kigali against the continued use of polythene bags to package goods for their customers.

Rwanda Environment Management Authority (REMA) made the warning during an inspection exercise last week.

The joint inspection was organised in partnership with Rwanda National Police and districts of Kigali City, to assess the implementation of the ban on plastic bags.

The exercise, which started on Wednesday, concluded on Friday.

It targeted selected sites of Kigali City suspected to be using plastic bags; especially bakeries, markets, and supermarkets.

Those found using plastic bags were fined between Rwf10,000 to Rwf300, 000 in accordance with the law prohibiting manufacture, importation, use and sale of polythene bags in Rwanda.

Jean Marie Vianney Twagirayezu, the manager of New Vision bakery in Kicukiro District whose bread was found packed in the banned material said he was aware of the dangers of plastic bags.

"We understand the impact of plastic bags on the environment but we use them due to lack of better alternatives to keep bread fresh for several days,” Twagirayezu said.

Speciose Urayeneza, who sells commodities in Kimironko market, appealed to government to make the alternatives more affordable.

"We get one piece of wax bag at Rwf40 which we give customers for free. When you ask customers to buy it or a paper bag, they just walk away. We wish the government could cut the price to Rwf10 so that we don’t make losses,” she said.

Samson Twiringire, the Chemicals and pollution officer at REMA, reiterated that the use of plastic bags is prohibited since 2008. "Exceptional usage is however, allowed to only for activities or products without alternatives other than the use of polythene bags", he said.

Among these he cited the use of cling film plastics in hotels and restaurants for food covering, handling of biomedical waste in hospitals and clinics, nursery bed tubing preparation of tree nurseries and for export of different commodities and in this case the polythene bags are clearly labeled "for export only".

Even for the exceptional use regime of polythene bags, users must ensure that the used polythene bags are collected and taken for recycling, he said.

Those who import them have to request for permission from REMA, and pay a caution fee worth Rwf100,000 that is paid back when all the used plastic bags are presented to REMA for burning or recycling.

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