Multi-sectoral approach could be the solution to food packaging

Editor,Food packaging in Rwanda and East Africa in general requires a multi-sectoral approach. We have different stakeholders in food packaging such as the ministry of Trade industry, the bureau of standards, the national environmental institutions, the ministry of agriculture, the higher institutions of learning – which have scientific research as part of their academic programmes – just to mention but a few.Some countries are definitely getting a raw deal. Rwanda banned the use and manufacturing of plastics, but Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania which by any standards have a bigger industrial base, are still using plastics because their industrialists argue that an alternative must be developed before a full ban is imposed.A ban on manufacture and use of plastics in the three countries above would cause financial losses in hundreds of millions of dollars, losses of jobs, crippling of businesses. But again the effects of poorly disposed plastics are a major environmental catastrophe.It’s, therefore, imperative that all regional states be involved in a multi-sectoral approach to solving this major problem of packaging. Agriculture is now East Africa’s major economic base. Kenya, which is East Africa’s industrial giant, is now getting US$ 17 billion from horticultural exports to Europe, surpassing tourism which used to be the country’s biggest foreign exchange earner.EU has strict packaging standards, which I believe Kenya has adopted. Let’s have regional multi-sectoral approach to packaging. James Munanura, Makerere University, Kampala, UgandaReaction to the story, “Regional manufacturers discuss packaging solutions”, (The New Times, June 6)

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Multi-sectoral approach could be the solution to food packaging