Plastic bottles dumped floating in river. | File photo
The Ministry of Environment and Forestry has defended levies on imported plastic bottles as an effort to reverse alarming plastic pollution in which an estimated one trillion plastic bottles have clogged the country’s rivers, streams and wetlands.
The ministry’s undersecretary, Joseph Africano Bartel the fee on plastic bottles acts as a deposit charge for buying back the non-degradable waste for safe disposal and recycling.
“As you’re aware, plastic bottles pollution has reached an alarming state in the country. Our streams, rivers, streets and wetlands are all littered and clogged with plastic bottles,” Mr. Africano said in a press conference on January 20.
“To reverse and clean up our environment from these serious plastic pollution, the Ministry of Environment and Forestry has levied a fee on plastic bottles.”
He made the statement in response to the Association of South Sudan Manufacturers (ASSM) announcing that water bottling companies were shutting down starting on 20th January 2025 due to high levies on plastic bottles imported into the country.
According to Adam Kubanja, chairperson of the manufacturers association, a 500-milliliter bottle of water which used to be at 0.01 dollars, is now charged at 0.5 dollars.
Adam added that the shutdown was decided following a two-week standoff over the high fees between the government and manufacturers at the Nimule border.
Mr. Kubanja said the levies could triple the current water prices and added that the closure of factories will potentially leave 6,000 workers unemployed.
Meanwhile. Mr. Africano revealed a damning estimate that there are over one trillion bottles polluting South Sudan’s echo system.
He said the government has adopted an environmental fee in the 2024-2025 budget appropriation bill in accordance with exchange rate.
“Because our currency has lost its values, it was 30 pounds for 500 milliliters and 40 pounds for 600 above milliliter, and due to fluctuations of our pounds, we have gone with 1 cent of a dollar,” he explained.
He said the ministry is only implementing a legislation that is already in effect at the border points.
“This environmental fee is part of the appropriation bill it’s the law and anybody who does not want to comply with the law is ready to close shops and move their factories to countries that will allow them to pollute their environment.”
“An environmental fee is there it’s not a tax it is like a deposit where everybody will get their money back if they dispose the plastic.”
“We would like to inform the public that the imposition of environmental fees on polluting materials is a global practice and we expect the water bottling companies to be conscious and concerned about the impact of their products on our environment.”
The environmental scientist further called on the bottling factories to cooperate with the government in enforcing its environmental laws and thanked entities that have complied with the levy.
On his part, Kubaji, the head of the manufacturers association, claimed that bottling factories have already invested on plastic recycling plants and are buying the plastic all across Juba for recycling.
“Why would the ministry again collect such a high levy on the same Manufacturers who already have the initiative to clean Juba?” he inquired in an interview with Eye Radio.
Last year, South Sudan Revenue Authority (SSRA) said the increase is not a tax but a service fee for collection of plastic bottles wastes across the country as per the financial act 2024/2025.
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