Every year, South Africans pull eight billion single-use plastic carrier bags from supermarket counters - more than 100 per person. With less than 1% of these bags recycled, the rest spill over into landfills and waterways, choke our marine life and degrade into toxic microplastics.

South Africa ranks among the top 20 contributors to marine plastic pollution worldwide, yet remains paralysed by a 22-year-old plastic levy which has failed spectacularly. We cannot recycle our way out of a manufactured crisis.

The truth of the matter is that plastic pollution does not impact on everyone equally. It is the most vulnerable among us who are forced to navigate the devastating realities of toxic emissions from open burning and contaminated resources. This stark inequality highlights a crisis where those least responsible for plastic consumption pay the highest price, turning a consumer convenience into a daily survival threat for marginalised groups.

Science is only beginning to understand the long-term effects of plastic on human health. Microplastics have been found in the air we breathe, the food we eat, and even in our organs and blood. From production to disposal, our constant exposure and intake of plastic threaten the well-being of South Africans.

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Illusion of progress: The failed 2004 levy

In an attempt to minimise the environmental, social and health impacts posed by single-use plastic shopping bags, the South African government introduced a plastic carrier bag levy in 2004 requiring retailers to charge for plastic bags instead of distributing...