a new game plan
Plastic nation: SA’s growing headache
There are serious reasons for the SA government to impose a ban on plastic bags, but it looks unlikely to happen, as the levy on the sale of the bags appears to be a money-spinner for the National Treasury
Famously branded "SA’s national flower" by one-time environmental affairs minister Valli Moosa, the plastic bag has for years been a ubiquitous part of SA’s retail landscape. But if environmental activists were hoping a ban was imminent, they’re set to be disappointed.
The government first introduced a levy of 3c a bag in June 2004, in the hope of cutting litter and encouraging reuse. Instead, the levy appears to have created a small but dependable money-spinner for the National Treasury: it brought in R241.3m in 2018, from an initial haul of R41.2m in 2004. Given a levy today of 12c a bag, that implies more than 2-billion plastic bags were sold in SA last year...
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