Although there is some readiness on the part of the public, available quantities of alternatives are hardly meeting demand.

After the ban on plastic bag production, use, and distribution came into effect on April 24, 2014, most retailers are facing a new challenge from customers. The scarcity of recommended options like paper, plant leaves, etc, obliges consumers the pain to take such options or additional bags to the market like “sacs and motos” or simply have to incur the cost of paying for them—FCFA 150.

This scarcity in packaging substitutes is already phasing in a production problem and points to the ill-preparedness of plastic companies that were supposed to have switched over to producing recommended options. The gravity of the situation is found in bakeries, supermarkets where consumers are forced to take items home on hands. At Boulangerie Saker, Joel Josephine, a consumer, has no option than to wrap pieces of bread with her necklace. “For the past several days the bakery has no plastic substitutes in which to serve customers,” she discloses.

A staff of Plasticam, a plastic company based in Bonaberi, Douala, who asks to remain anonymous, says the problem is partly with companies who did not have sufficient time to adapt machines to produce substitutes, say papers or cloths than the usual plastics.

Though some paltry amounts of papers are available in markets at Mboppi, Nkololoun, and Congo, the retailers complain they are merely cartons or paper bags where cement has been removed. Solange Amira, a buyer Cameroon Tribune met at “Marché des femmes”, disclosed how she lost most items she had bought with last week’s heavy rains in the economic capital as she struggled to find shelter.

Smiles have come on the faces of plant leaves retailers at the Goat Market. The demand for leaves has witnessed a sharp increase, and price has escalated from FCFA 200 to FCFA 350 per bundle. Goyanne, leaves seller, foresees further rise in demand in June if other options continue to be scarce.

Paper bags, which many people consider a better alternative to plastic bags, are not eco-friendly. Environmentalists say meeting the need for paper bags simply adds up to a lot of trees, which is a serious threat to the climate. There is need to explore ethical alternatives to plastic bags.

By Christopher Jator