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Uganda bans plastic bags

A ban on plastic bags in Uganda took effect on Sunday, to the "delight" of the country's environmentalists, the Kampala-based newspaper New Vision reported.

Officials want consumers in the east African country to use banana leaves instead of polythene bags, which are known in Luganda dialect as buveera.

Tanzania’s Zanzibar islands banned plastic bags last year.

"Due to serious environmental concerns and the difficulties in the disposal of polythene bags and plastic containers, action was required in order to encourage producers and consumers to minimise (their use)," Reuters reported Ugandan finance minister Ezra Suruma as saying in a budget speech last month.

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