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<p>Plastic pollution remains a pressing environmental challenge across low and middle-income countries, prompting renewed interest in regulatory bans on single-use plastics. Yet the effectiveness of such bans depends critically on institutional readiness and political economic conditions. This study examines Nigeria’s proposed ban on single-use plastics through a comparative analysis with Tanzania, which implemented a national plastic carrier-bag ban in 2019. Drawing on focus group discussions and stakeholder interviews with households, traders, recyclers, informal waste workers, producers of alternatives, regulators, and academics in both countries, the study analyzes how governance capacity, market structure, and actor inclusion shape policy outcomes. The findings show that Tanzania’s ban achieved visible reductions in plastic litter and high compliance among producers, driven by clear regulatory signals and enforcement, but faced persistent challenges related to consumer awareness, the affordability of alternatives, informal leakage, and cross-border trade. Nigeria, by contrast, exhibits a fragmented but innovation-driven plastic economy, anchored in informal recovery networks and in the uneven implementation of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR). The comparative evidence suggests that plastic bans implemented without affordable substitutes, phased sequencing, and integration of informal actors’ risk regulatory displacement and livelihood disruption. The paper argues that effective plastic governance requires moving beyond prohibition toward a systemic approach that aligns regulation, incentives, market preparedness, and institutional capacity within a circular-economy framework.</p>

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Readiness and the political economy of plastic ban in Nigeria: lessons from Tanzania

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2026年5月2日

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  • NwaJesus Anthony Onyekuru,
  • Nnaemeka Chukwuone,
  • Chizoba Obianuju Oranu,
  • Rosemary Stanley Taylor,
  • Razack Lokina

摘要

Plastic pollution remains a pressing environmental challenge across low and middle-income countries, prompting renewed interest in regulatory bans on single-use plastics. Yet the effectiveness of such bans depends critically on institutional readiness and political economic conditions. This study examines Nigeria’s proposed ban on single-use plastics through a comparative analysis with Tanzania, which implemented a national plastic carrier-bag ban in 2019. Drawing on focus group discussions and stakeholder interviews with households, traders, recyclers, informal waste workers, producers of alternatives, regulators, and academics in both countries, the study analyzes how governance capacity, market structure, and actor inclusion shape policy outcomes. The findings show that Tanzania’s ban achieved visible reductions in plastic litter and high compliance among producers, driven by clear regulatory signals and enforcement, but faced persistent challenges related to consumer awareness, the affordability of alternatives, informal leakage, and cross-border trade. Nigeria, by contrast, exhibits a fragmented but innovation-driven plastic economy, anchored in informal recovery networks and in the uneven implementation of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR). The comparative evidence suggests that plastic bans implemented without affordable substitutes, phased sequencing, and integration of informal actors’ risk regulatory displacement and livelihood disruption. The paper argues that effective plastic governance requires moving beyond prohibition toward a systemic approach that aligns regulation, incentives, market preparedness, and institutional capacity within a circular-economy framework.