Angola to start banning plastics in 19 months

  Luanda - The secretary of State for Environment, Abias Moma Huongo, said Thursday in Luanda that the National Plan for Banning Plastics in the country could begin in 19 months, with a budget of over 600 million kwanzas.

The minister justified the timeframe for its implementation taking into account the goal of doing a good job and benefiting from the ongoing process at international level, which intends to ban plastic pollution by the end of 2024.

 

Abias Moma Huongo made the statement at the end of the first meeting of the technical support group of the multidisciplinary work commission for the elaboration of the National Plan for the Banning of Plastics.

 

"Exactly what we want, as we draw up our plan, is to benefit from inputs from what happens internationally so that it is current and can respond to our needs", Huongo explained.

 

Huongo said that so far it is not possible for Angola to know the amount of plastics produced in the country, however the components of the plan preparation will enable us to know the volumes of the plastic produced and the main types.

 

He explained that the study will facilitate the adoption of measures to ban plastics and consequently their replacement by another product for producers, retailers and final consumers.

 

"If we want to ban it, the entrepreneur has to do something else that depends on studies, to safeguard his work and the direct and indirect jobs generated", Huongo said.

 

He then explained that despite the fact that the measure will cover the whole country, studies would be carried out  targeting 10 of the country's 18 provinces, depending on the amount of waste they produce.

 

The meeting has among several other objectives, to carry out research and studies needed to make a national diagnosis to learn the stage of pollution in which the country finds itself due to the abusive use of plastic.