Africa Wild

https://youtu.be/XDX-ylSDSh4

JOHANNESBURG - The quest for a full-on ban on plastic products continues.

A local real estate company, that owns a fleet of malls, is leading the charge.

It plans to ban plastic shopping bags in its malls at the end of this year.

Plans are afoot at big Johannesburg malls, to have a complete ban on plastic bags.

a woman walking down a sidewalk next to a brick wall© Cocoparisienne
And the government’s plans for a complete ban on plastic products is expected by next year.

The Environmental Affairs department says the response from retailers has been impressive.

“We’ve had retailers taking their own initiatives to help ban plastics bags in their own stores like Woollies have introduced their 2020 initiative – the alternatives will be bioplastic bags more recyclable bags it what we are doing at this moment”, said Mark Gordan, from the Environmental Affairs department.

Gordon says the phase-out process is still ongoing.

“So there is a lot of factoring that needs to continue. There is a lot of dialogue being prepared with a lot of sectors, heavily engaged with industry around their preparedness for when there is a complete ban – what will be the replacement and the costs and socio-economic impacts to including manufacturing”, Gordan added.

The department says it is also looking into other single-use products like earbuds and paper plates - all in the name of preserving the environment.

Unfortunately, plastic bottles will take longer, because there is, for the time being, only glass as alternative

It could be much better if people had a more civilized way to get rid of them, instead of just throwing them away wherever they happen to be

yes , indeed But people are just too bl.... lazy to recycle Much easier to just chuck the plastic away , whether it be bags or bottles or wrapping .

Unfortunately so

Turtle poos huge amounts of plastic

2019-05-16 09:52
Kim Abrahams

https://youtu.be/a5CJzqxXWfo
Dead baby turtles found washed up on Cape beaches were most likely killed by plastic. These are the findings of marine scientists that dissected loggerhead hatchlings found along the Overstrand coastline last week.


The moment a turtle defecates plastic. (Pictures: CENTRALEUROPEANNEWS/WWW.MAGAZINEFEAT)

A rescued green sea turtle defecated plastic after swallowing large amounts of the indigestible material.

The turtle was found caught in a fishing net near the coastal town of San Clemente del Tuyú in the eastern Argentinian province of Buenos Aires.

The fisherman who found it then called the Mundo Marino foundation, a local aquarium, which sent a rescue team to transport the animal to the centre.

They discovered the turtle’s weight was less than normal, which led vets to carry out blood tests to find out what was wrong.

Though the blood tests showed no abnormalities, hours later the turtle started excreting huge amounts of plastic rubbish.

In a video taken by a staff member, the turtle is seen swimming in a small pool when another staff member lifts it out of the water and plastic is seen coming out of its rear.

"It's worrying to find rubbish inside the digestive system of a turtle," Juan Pablo Loureiro, a vet from the Educative Park of Mundo Marino, told local media.

"You have to bear in mind that the accumulation of garbage creates the feeling of fullness. This makes them weaker and will condition their chances of survival."

After an X-ray confirmed all the plastic had been expelled from its system, the turtle spent time recovering at the foundation before being released into the ocean.

Pic shows: The plastic defecated by the turtle.



Eleven of the 24 turtles rescued and treated by the foundation this year have defected some plastic during their treatment, according to local media.

It's a worrying statistic.

Source: Magazine Features

From Daily maverick
http://www.msn.com/en-za/news/spotlight ... &ocid=iehp

Africa is leading the world in plastic bag bans

As of June 1, travelers to Tanzania will have to pack very carefully. The country announced the implementation of the second phase of its plastic bag ban on May 16. Visitors are advised to avoid packing or carrying any plastic bags as they’ll have to leave these at a designated desk in the airport.

The first phase of the country’s anti-plastic initiative began in 2017 to “protect the youth and environment,” with an initial ban on the manufacture of plastic bags and in-country distribution. Phase two extends to tourists. “The government does not intend for visitors to Tanzania to find their stay unpleasant as we enforce the ban,” said a statement from vice president Samia Suluhu’s office. “However, the government expects that, in appreciation of the imperative to protect the environment and keep our country clean and beautiful, our visitors will accept minor inconveniences resulting from the plastic bags ban.”

There are exceptions to the new rule for medical, industrial, construction, agricultural, and waste management packaging, as well as for the small “ziploc” bags used to carry toiletries (as long as these leave the country when the visitors do). Still, Tanzania aims to be plastic bag free, and it’s just one of 34 African nations fighting against single-use plastics with such bans.

In fact, the African continent is leading the world in plastic bag regulations. Notably, 31 of these bans have been passed in sub-Saharan Africa, the globe’s poorest region, as Laura Parker reported for National Geographic in April.

Cleaner and greener

Kenya’s efforts, initiated in 2017, have led to a “visibly cleaner” country, Parker writes: “Bags that once hung like windblown shrouds from tree branches are fewer in number, as are clumps of bags that clogged drainage systems and created breeding pools for malaria-bearing mosquitoes.”

In Kenya, the penalties for ignoring the ban are the world’s most punitive. Manufacturers, importers, distributors, and users found with plastic bags face up to $38,000 in fines or four years in prison. The ban has faced resistance, and enforcement is also a problem—it’s spotty, which means that plastic bags are still circulating despite the potential penalties. Still, in a country that once used about 100 million plastic bags a year, according to UN estimates, the reduction efforts are notable and seem to be effective.

Rwanda is aiming to be the world’s first plastic-free country, and its prohibitions appear to be working. The UN named the country’s capital, Kigali, the African continent’s cleanest city, thanks in part to a 2008 ban on non-biodegradable plastic.

This month, a UN environmental study concluded that plastic bag bans are working and are especially effective in African nations where waste is often burned. Indeed, about 40% of the world’s waste is burned, which causes toxic pollution. Burning plastics releases poisonous gases that threaten the health of vegetation, humans, and animals. “Burning of plastic waste increase the risk of heart disease, aggravates respiratory ailments such as asthma and emphysema and cause rashes, nausea or headaches and damages the nervous system,” the study notes.

Reducing plastic bag use then has two effects: It minimizes the creation of waste, much of which drifts and ends up in the world’s oceans, harming marine life, and it reduces the air pollution caused by burning single-use plastics.

In places without any such prohibitions, waste is a major problem. Ghana is the world’s fastest-growing economy, for example, but efforts to attract investment and tourism are thwarted by a waste management issue that leaves major cities like Accra struggling with unsightly and unhealthy trash pileups. “Accra’s gutters are persistently clogged… A common complaint through the city is that when people clean out the gutters, waste will sit in a pile nearby and eventually find its way back. Piles of rubbish sit on street corners, picked on by birds. After a storm, plastic bottles washed out with the rain return to line the beaches,” writes Stacey Knotts for Quartz

It's the lack of education that forces them to take drastic measures. Also Parts of Asia, the Americas and even some places in Europe the populations are indifferent and uncaring when it comes to waste

Hmmmmm........Flooding in Cape Town ....... but actually , it would rather appear that it rained plastic bottles



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