On Monday, the Commercial Division of the High Court in Lilongwe dismissed- with costs- an application by Golden Plastics LTD to secure a Judicial review on plastics regulations of 2015.

The ruling means Malawi Environmental Protection Agency (MEPA) can take action against companies which produce plastics of less than 60 micrometres.

“This implies that the Department of Environmental Affairs under my ministry will now go full throttle to enforce the ban…... Justice has prevailed, thanks to the team involved in the case and all that have been supporting the ban,” said Tembo

Tembo added that while the ruling is exempting some plastics, her ministry is working towards obtaining a total ban of all plastics.

Thin plastics in Malawi were banned in 2019 by the courts but after the ban Golden Plastics went to the High Court (Commercial Division) to seek a stay order against the ruling.

It is believed that the company had a huge amount of thin plastics in its warehouses and wanted to use the court process as an opportunity to sell the plastics.