Plastic bags ban and social marginalization: Evidence from Morocco

Abstract

Biased socio-environmental policies often result in social resistance among the less well-off, hence hindering the effectiveness of such policies. The present research investigated the implications of the plastic bags ban in Morocco implemented in July 2016 and how it differentially impacted formal and informal sector workers including customers of informal economy markets. While formal markets succeeded in implementing the ban given the affordability of alternatives to plastic compared to their customers living standards, the informal markets vendors and customers not only could not afford these alternatives but also suffered from impoverishing effects of such policy as the findings of our research show. The paper concludes that the effectiveness of environmental policies relies heavily on their implementation within a wider framework addressing socio-economic inequalities and poverty among the informal sector workers especially in countries where the latter constitute a large proportion of the national economy.