In 2010, when Zimbabwe’s new Environmental Management Agency was less than 8 years old, it looked at high-priority environmental issues it should tackle. And it identified polystyrene takeout containers. Some know this type of plastic by its brand name Styrofoam. Zimbabweans call their takeout containers kaylites. Regardless of the name, just like all over the world, this lightweight plastic was ending up in Zimbabwe’s water bodies, where it broke up into tiny, impossible-to-clean-up, bits. But eradicating polystyrene kaylites proved no easy task: First, in 2012, the Environmental Management Agency issued a statutory instrument (a sort of executive order), banning polystyrene takeout containers, but that rule had no teeth. In 2016, it rolled out a complete ban on the manufacture, importation and distribution of polystyrene kaylites. Restaurants and manufacturers managed to delay enforcement until 2017, when the government put its foot down. Violators now face criminal charges. What finally persuaded officials to crack down on foam takeout containers? More than visible floating trash, it was polystyrene’s health effects. A 2017 study out of the University of Zimbabwe found that styrene, a known carcinogen, can migrate out of containers and into food. The higher the temperature, the more the migration, but even when stored in the fridge, oily foods soak up styrene. “That then triggered the rapid implementation by the government,” says Archieford Chemhere, a climate justice specialist with the Zimbabwean NGO Action Aid. Even though restaurants had a huge stock of foam containers imported from China, many consumers started refusing them.…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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