Irreplaceable plastics

Plastic bags, particularly those of the degradable type, are definitely not "ghastly" and surely very useful and cost-effective.

Before plastic started being produced commercially, goods used to be packed in costly, bulky and heavy wooden boxes. Then, when the world became aware that to produce so much wood our forests were being eroded, the packaging industry turned to the lighter but still bulky and costly cardboard and paper. But the production of paper, whether natural or recycled, proved to be also detrimental to our natural environment.

Plastic packaging, on the other hand, is so convenient with regard to space, practicality and cost, and even if certain people think that this too is detrimental to the environment, well, let us stop fooling ourselves in trying not to admit that to date this is by far the best option available.

I think the case lies more with informing and educating the public how to reuse and dispose of plastic packaging properly, rather than trying so hard to completely write-off this irreplaceable means of packaging.

Now that Government has officially revised its original Legal Notice on Eco-Tax on Plastic Bags from Lm5 per kilo to just 1c on degradable plastic bags, the situation seems to be more realistic.

Please note that I prefer to call this a pure tax rather than an eco-contribution since this new eco-tax is added on to the product-value before VAT is finally added on to the total cost.

To my knowledge, no contribution has ever been subject to VAT.

However, I still feel that even this eco-tax of 1c on every degradable plastic bag is completely senseless.

Since local plastic bag manufacturers will surely be producing only degradable bags, they should be encouraged and definitely not taxed in this regard. These bags will disintegrate within a couple of months when exposed to natural elements.

Therefore, such bags will vanish completely from the surface of the earth even when discarded irresponsibly. Furthermore, unlike the more expensive bio-degradable bags, these degradable plastic bags may still be reused several times for so many different purposes before actually being properly disposed of.