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Tanzania: carrier bags banned regardless of thickness; no sorting label
Tanzania prohibited plastic carrier bags, regardless of thickness, under the Environmental Management (Prohibition of Plastic Carrier Bags) Regulations, 2019, Government Notice No. 394. The ban is a product rule. It is not a labelling rule for remaining packaging. Together with Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda, Tanzania is a Partner State of the East African Community — the right scale at which to describe regional standards work, not a shared recycling logo.
Regardless of thicknessPrescribed or scheme wording — not production artwork
Wording lock-ups and sourced marks are for identification and commentary. They are not production artwork.
The question this report answers
Tanzania prohibited plastic carrier bags, regardless of thickness, under the Environmental Management (Prohibition of Plastic Carrier Bags) Regulations, 2019, Government Notice No. 394, published 17 May 2019. Import, export, manufacture, sale, storage and supply of those bags are prohibited. The ban is a product rule. It is not a labelling rule for remaining packaging.
EPR language exists in Tanzania’s environmental-management framework. On the sources reviewed, it has not been shown to prescribe a general consumer sorting mark. Together with Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda, Tanzania is a Partner State of the East African Community. That is the right scale at which to describe regional standards work. It is the wrong scale at which to imply a shared recycling logo.
Legal status at a glance
| Requirement | Status | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Plastic carrier-bag prohibition (GN 394/2019) | mandatory | All plastic carrier bags, regardless of thickness. In force from 2019. |
| General on-pack recycling or sorting label | none | No located destination pictogram or resin-code duty for ordinary remaining packaging. |
| EPR provisions | mixed | Present in the environmental-management framework. Not treated as an in-force on-pack labelling mandate. |
| East African Standards on packaging | proposed | 2025 draft EAS food-contact packaging specifications. See the EAC overview. |
Regardless of thickness
Many African bag laws use a micron threshold. Tanzania’s 2019 regulation does not: all plastic carrier bags are prohibited, with the usual need to read any scheduled exemptions in the notice itself. Remaining packaging continues to circulate. A bottle sold in Dar es Salaam is not, on this record, required to carry a Kenyan recyclable/non-recyclable word or an EU material code.
Primary sources and verification
Tanzania. Environmental Management (Prohibition of Plastic Carrier Bags) Regulations, 2019 (GN 394). Open source
The “regardless of thickness” prohibition is taken from GN 394 as published on TanzLII. Last verified: 24 August 2026.