Parliament, Wednesday, 3 July 2019 – The Portfolio Committee on Environment, Forestry and Fisheries wants to join the world in recognising the International Plastic Bag-Free Day today. The committee is aware of the dangers posed by plastic to the environment and believes it is important to urge South Africans to curb the use of single-use plastic bags and other plastic products. Plastic bags have adverse effects on the environment and it has become evident that plastic products, such as plastic carrier bags and single-use plastic bags, contributes to marine pollution.
The committee would also like to urge more South Africans to recycle plastic products to prevent plastics from ending up in the sea and destroying the marine population. The committee is aware that the Department of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries has a National Waste Management Strategy aimed at minimising the amount of waste generated and going to landfills to unlock economic opportunities. This promotes a recycling economy ethos through various recycling and waste beneficiation initiatives. These initiatives need to be expanded and grown on a larger commercial scale to offer more value to beneficiaries and enterprise-support programmes in the informal sector
The committee believes there is a need to develop a policy instrument to phase out plastic straws and to manage single-use plastic products in a manner that will protect the environment, while not impacting negatively on the economy and in a manner that will prevent job losses in affected industries.
ISSUED BY THE PARLIAMENTARY COMMUNICATION SERVICES ON BEHALF OF THE CHAIRPERSON OF THE PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENT, FORESTRY AND FISHERIES, MR FIKILE XASA.
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