No 'bag police'

2003-05-15 19:14

Cape Town - Addressing the Cape Town Press Club on Thursday, environmental affairs minister Valli Moosa said the department had no intention of setting up a plastic bags inspectorate to enforce new regulations outlawing the manufacture and commercial distribution of thin plastic bags.

"I am pleased by the response of both retailers and consumers... the idea has caught on and is happening... and we have no intention of using the taxpayers money to set up a plastic bag inspectorate," he said.

Valli said the matter of phasing out the plastic bags used at shops enjoyed world public support and the department had been inundated with calls from the public, even in small "dorpies", questioning the legality of shops still handing out the old plastic bags.

"The members of the public will be the plastic bag inspectorate... and there are millions (of people) out there."

He said a dedicated hotline to respond to the deluge of calls could be operational on Thursday, and any action that will be taken against transgressors of the new legislation would not be too harsh.

"We are now looking at other waste products, not aluminium cans, but used tyres which are a huge environmental problem, and will also take a closer look at glass bottles."

Tourism increasing

Turning to South African tourism, Moosa said that the latest available statistics showed that tourist arrivals from Europe had increased by 17.3% for the period January to February 2003, compared to last year's figures for the same period.

For the same period there was an even bigger increase for other countries, including Germany which had an with 8.3% increase.

"One of the smaller markets like France showed a 39.9% increase," he said, adding that the tourist industry had milked the Cricket World Cup well, and as a result saw an increase of 95.8% Indian tourists visiting the country.

Valli said that tourism authorities would in future be looking at China, specifically Shanghai, as a potential growth area.

He highlighted four areas in the next phase of the South African tourist agenda. These were not only to increase the numbers arriving, but also fine-tuning strategies to get them to spend more; to have tourists stay longer periods in the country; to spread tourism around more in the country; and to try and resolve the peaks associated with seasonality.

Valli also responded during question time to the seriousness of perlemoen (abalone) poaching, the possibility of legalising the sex industry and to the issue of ships passing along the coastline and the concomitant dangers of oil spills.

"A bigger problem is the dumping of ballast water and we are looking at regulations to strenghten its control... because there are a lot of alien species and it could have unintended consequences on our marine life," he said.

- SAPA