While the third meeting of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee, held in November, could not reach a consensus on the zero-draft text for a legally binding instrument to coordinate global efforts to end plastic pollution, South Africa continues to make progress in addressing plastic pollution, said Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment Minister Barbara Creecy. In a speech at the South African Plastic Pact CEO engagement breakfast event, she said that government had put a restriction of a minimum of 50% recycled content as part of the product design measures for plastic carrier bags in 2023, with the intention that by 2027 plastic carrier bags and black refuse bags should be made from a hundred percent recycled material.
