EDITORIAL - Focus on reducing plastic pollution
Last Sunday marked the world-wide celebration of Earth Day. Here in Barbados, there was a ceremonial tree-planting in honour of local environmentalist and innovative scientist, the late Dr Colin Hudson, which took place on Saturday, but apart from this there was very little fanfare.
This is regrettable, especially as across the globe people focused on how to ‘End Plastic Pollution’ – the theme for this year’s occasion, and a movement that has been seeking to gain momentum here in this country.
For the past few years Barbadians were being asked to make a mental adjustment to find alternatives to plastic bags for their purchases at the point of checkout. In fact, a number of stores like Cost-U-Less and PriceSmart implemented a “no plastic bag” rule, offering consumers boxes instead or the option to buy a reusable bag, so any change in behaviour would not be a foreign concept grasp. Then last year the initiative kicked into high gear with a concerted effort being made to get more stores onboard by making customers pay for plastic bags, instead of providing them freely.
Coupled with this was a concern with the use of Styrofoam containers, since it takes an estimated 500 years minimum for a single Styrofoam container to decompose. Based on this concern, local company Bico Limited introduced its Vegware line of products to the local market a while ago – a fully compostable alternative to Styrofoam featured in a wide range of food and beverage containers. These containers, which are made from biodegradable plant matter, break down within 12 weeks.
These efforts to prevent the overuse of plastic in Barbados and reduce its impact on the environment are laudable, however they are not enough. There are still too many retail stores
and markets giving away plastic bags and too many people refuse to carry reusable bags. Likewise, Styrofoam containers are still the norm and not the exception with the hundreds of food vendors who operate across the country daily.
Furthermore, Barbadians hardly make any attempt to separate their garbage in order to recycle plastic containers. Although facilities exist whereby people can return these items, they usually focus on bottle returns instead.
People are generally opposed to change, however in some cases change must be insisted upon for the greater good. Barbados is a small country with a high population density and garbage and waste disposal is a serious matter, especially being a tourism-dependent country. There must therefore be a practical solution to reducing the use of plastics and eliminating plastic pollution. Furthermore, with the rainy season approaching and the potential for vectors to increase, plastic pollution is a major risk to people’s health.
In the final analysis, although making a change in behaviour may be inconvenient or a little more expensive than what one is accustomed, one really can’t afford to sit back and do
nothing.
Therefore, we call on all Barbadians and local companies to commit to reducing the use of plastic daily, and promoting proper recycling techniques for those that are used.