Plastic Packaging: A Study on Plastic Imports in Uganda

Plastic packaging is crucial in preserving the quality of products. It has become ubiquitous, and an inseparable part of daily life and the food industry due to its aesthetic attributes, strength, affordability and convenience of use. This has thus led to the increase in demand and imports of plastics in the country. However, plastic packaging alone accounts for 47% of global plastic waste amidst documented threats of plastic waste to the environment-water-food-health nexus. Several reports indicate that between 1994 and 2017, Uganda imported a total of 1.9 million tons of plastic in both raw and finished form compared to 117 million tons across Africa. Imports and use of plastics in Uganda have increased by six-fold within the last three years hence extrapolating the growing challenge for sustainable plastic imports, product packaging, and waste management. The objective of the review therefore was to explore the future trend and impact of plastic imports and packaging in Uganda by analyzing plastic imports and the associated waste. The study further reviews the challenges arising from the growing demand for plastic packaging and presents a discussion on the solutions and potential ways forward for win-win benefits. Several strides to curb the menace of plastic waste are presented, which are manly from the private sector and plastic recycling businesses. A conclusion is made that if these efforts are to meet the intended leaps of change, the government of Uganda has to support the private organisations through grants, space allocation for collection centers and media access across the country. Furthermore, stricter regulations on excess plastic importation have to be implemented by the government as the country develops locally grown solutions to plastic packaging and use.