President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih has issued a decree announcing amendments to the list of single-use plastics banned from import into the Maldives. He made the decree under section 7 of the Import-Export Act, which vests the president with the power to prohibit the import of single-use plastic items by predetermined deadlines as part of a gradual phase-out effort.
Under the announced amendments, the planned date for enforcement of the ban on importing Styrofoam containers was changed from December 21, 2021 to June 1, 2021. Additionally, the implementation date for the import ban on carbonated and non-carbonated drinks in plastic packaging was amended to June 1, 2022, extending the period by one year. Further amendments in the decree include adding hair conditioner bottles and body lotions bottles in single-use plastic packaging to the existing lists of shampoo and soap of similar sizes and packaging.
The enforcement dates remain unchanged, with the ban on said items under 50ml coming into effect on June 1 and the same items between 50ml and 200ml coming into effect on December 1, respectively. Further, definitions for several items were revised from PET bottles to single-use plastic bottles.
The plan to phase out the use of single-use plastic is a national initiative to phase out the production, importation and consumption of certain single-use plastics into the Maldives, in the effort to protect human health, and the vulnerable marine environment of the country. The government is committed to phasing out single-use plastics in the Maldives by 2023, as per the Parliament Resolution of 2019 and the declaration made by President Solih at the 74th session of the United Nations General Assembly in 2019.
The decree and amendments made have been published in the Government Gazette and comes into immediate effect.