On January 1st, Senegal’s new plastic bag law went into effect. Simply stated, you cannot produce, import, posses, distribute, or use plastic bags that are thinner than 30 microns. To break that down into American-speak, 30 microns is .03 millimeter, or about the thickness of an average trashcan liner. Regular Ziplock bags are usually around 50 microns.
Violations of this new law carry stiff penalties: up to two years in jail and fines up to 20,000,000CFA. That’s a lot of zeros.
Why the ban on thin bags?
The goal is to reduce the amount of trash that piles up from single-use plastic bags. The general thought is thicker bags can be re-used. As well, the “thinner the bag is, the higher is the probability of its breakdown and mixing with the soil, which seriously deteriorates the soil and marine fauna.”