ANGLICAN CHURCH CALLS FOR A BAN ON SINGLE USE PLASTIC BAGS ANS MICRO PLASTICS IN SOUTHERN AFRICA
The Provincial Standing Committee of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, meeting in Benoni, Johannesburg passed a resolution calling for a ban on single use plastic bags in the six countries of South Africa, Lesotho, Namibia, Angola, Mozambique and Swaziland
The text of the resolution is as follows:
Whereas it is becoming increasingly clear that plastic is proving to be extremely damaging to the health and well-being of people and planet,
That the quantity of plastic is polluting water, air and soil and threatening the survival of millions of species,
And that this applies in particular to microplastics which can enter the respiratory system and blood stream,
This PSC requests
The Archbishop, Bishops and ACSA-EN to inform our congregations and the people of our countries of the seriousness of plastic pollution, now threatening the health and well-being of people and planet;
And furthermore requests the Archbishop and Bishops to communicate this danger to the respective governments of our Province, urging them to:
- Prohibit the manufacture (or production), importation and sale of microplastics as a matter of urgency, as is now the case in the UK, US, Canada and New Zealand,
- Ban non-biodegradable plastic bags, as has happened in Rwanda and Kenya,
And to ask the parishes of ACSA to encourage their parishioners to:
- Put pressure on local shops to stop using non-biodegradable plastic bags,
- Combat plastic pollution by joining with local communities in river, beach and township clean-up events,
- Support the Bring Your Own Bag (BYOB) campaign, pledging to stop using single-use plastic bags and encouraging parish sewing groups to make material bags as both an income generating and environmental project.
