Pack your bags but nowhere to go!

Polythene makers seek alternatives after January 1 ban

By Nadia Fazlulhaq

The polythene manufacturers organization has accused the authorities of banning ‘thin’ polythene from January 1, without suggesting any alternatives for them.

The legislation will ban polythene products like shopping bags and polythene sheets (less than 20 microns thickness) for packing lunches. It also encourages increasing the gauge of the polythene to 20 microns, with the intention of phasing out polythene manufacture.

Plastics Packaging Director Mervin Dias said the thickness of present polythene bags and sheets was less than 20 microns and when the thickness of these products was increased to 20 microns raw material usage would increase.

According to Mr. Dias, the smallest shopping bag produced has 7-8 microns thickness, medium sized shopping bags 8-9 microns thickness and sheets for packing lunches 2-4 microns thickness.

He said that if the products were to have thickness of 20 microns, more foreign exchange would have to be used to import the extra raw material required and it would cost more than US$ 9 million per annum.

“Even though polythene does not degrade; there are several manufacturers in Sri Lanka who produce degradable bags. Oxy-biodegradable bags can come to the market as a solution. These bags will degrade wherever oxygen is present. It doesn’t affect the soil as the polythene turns into small molecules and later becomes the food of micro-organisms” he said.

Once the ban comes into effect manufacturers who cannot afford to produce polythene to the thickness of 20 microns and more would have to close down their manufacturing plants, with their employees losing their jobs.

“Small scale polythene manufacturers would lose. More than 700,000 people will be affected by this ban. There are more than 300 industries and more than 30,000 individuals working in them. The Government should give an alternative solution before banning thin polythene which comprises 90% of the local polythene products,” Sun-Pack Director M.R.M.Shiraz said.