DUSHANBE, 19.07.2023 (NIAT Khovar) – From January 1, 2025, Tajikistan will ban the import and use of ethylene polymer bags with a thickness of up to 15 microns. This was announced by the representative of the Committee for Environmental Protection Naim Nematzoda.

The exception is bags made of ethylene polymers that do not have handles, used for packaging of goods that are an integral part of goods sold in the form of rolls for household use, as well as from rapidly degradable polymer biological materials.

“In order to implement the relevant decree, the Ministry of Industry and New Technologies in collaboration with the State Committee for Investment and State Property Management will take measures to strengthen the production of ecological containers made of cardboard, paper, fabric, ceramics and biodegradable polymer materials in the republic. The Committee for Environmental Protection will also take the necessary measures to exempt from 15 percent of payments for environmental pollution and waste disposal of industrial enterprises engaged in the production of environmental bags made of cardboard, paper, fabrics, ceramics and biodegradable polymer materials, and shopping centers that refused to sell bags made of ethylene polymers,” noted Nematzoda.

While importing packages of ethylene polymers into Tajikistan, importers will have to submit to the Customs Service the relevant conclusion of the Agency for Standardization, Metrology, Certification and Trade Inspection to determine the thickness of the packages.

According to him, the ban on plastic bags up to 15 microns thick will not affect the price increase, since at the first stage the ban will concern the import and use of ethylene polymer bags up to 15 microns thick, the production of which is small.

Today, plastic bags are everywhere. Most of the products in stores and supermarkets are packed in them, and people also use them in everyday life. Mountains of garbage from plastic bags have flooded the cities: they stick out of urns and lie on the roads, swim in reservoirs and even get hooked on trees. The whole world is drowning in these polyethylene products. It is convenient for people to use plastic bags, but few people think that using these products means ruining our nature.

These, at first glance, so convenient, products are not in vain in the risk zone. The fact is that they are made from polymers that do not decompose in the natural environment, and when burned into the atmosphere emit toxic substances. It will take at least 400 years to decompose a plastic bag.

In addition, with regard to water pollution, experts say that about a quarter of the Earth’s water surface is covered with plastic bags. This leads to the fact that different species of fish, seals, turtles and seabirds, taking plastic for food, swallow it, get confused in bags and therefore die in agony. All this mostly happens underwater, people don’t see it. However, this does not mean that there is no problem, so you can not turn a blind eye to it.