Court overturns ban on thin plastics in Malawi

High Court in Blantyre has lifted the  a ban on the production, distribution and importation of thin plastics after Aero Plastics Industries, Rainbow Plastic and 12 other companies successfully challenged  the dismissal of a judicial review  on the ban.

In June 2015, the government effected a ban on thin plastics of less than 60 microns, arguing that they pose a threat to the environment due to their delayed rate of decomposition.

But in January 2016, some 12 companies, obtained an injunction through theor lawyer Frank Mbeta against the implementation of the ban, arguing it infringed on their business rights.

They were also against the closing down of their factories and imposing fines on suspicion that they were manufacturing, distributing and or selling thin plastics.

The companies sought judicial review challenging the ban however the court upheld the ban on June 14, 2018.

However, in his determination on October 4, Justice Healey Potani said he weighed the companies’ right to seek reliegf pending appeal and thought the respondent through State Counsel dwelled too much on the merits if the previos ruling than on defending why the stay execution should not be grangted.

The government effected the ban on plastics using the 1999 Environmental Regulation Act on the management and disposal of wastes.