Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – A roadside vegetable merchant in Mandalay Chanayethatzan Township was given a 15-day jail sentence early this month for violation of a ban on polythene bags.

The ban order was issued in 2009. Vegetable vendor Daw Kyu was charged under section 26 of the Municipal Act in Municipal Court, said officials of the township development committee. 

This is the first known imprisonment for violation of the ban. After receiving a tip, Mayor Phone Zaw Han visited the Yadanapon Market area and observed the violation, said vendors in the market.

‘In previous inspections, only the banned bags were seized and they didn’t harm the users. But this time, the mayor made a surprise visit and she was imprisoned’, a vendor told Mizzima.

An official said that 18 packets (each packet contains 100 bags) were found. 

Many countries have take action on eco-unfriendly polythene bags by drastically reducing use of the bags and Burma followed suit in 2009 by issuing a total ban order in Rangoon and Mandalay. Factories making polythene packaging bags were also shut down by order. 

A shop owner in Yadanapon Market said that it was still difficult to find substitute paper bags and other bags using cheap and easy packaging material.

‘We use paper bags for our chinaware and porcelain products. But the roadside vendors and hawkers have to take risk using the banned material despite frequent inspections and seizure of polythene bags’, he told Mizzima.

Despite a total ban on polythene material in packaging, which is considered non-biodegradable and can take many years to break down, it is still widely used in Rangoon and Mandalay, an official toldMizzima.