The Government of Saint Lucia passed the Styrofoam and Plastics (Ban) Act on June 11, 2019. At the time, the law was seen as a stepping stone to the government’s promise to reduce dependence on single-use plastics on the island of St. Lucia. The whole idea was to have a clean, safe and healthy environment.
At the time, the law was seen as an important tool to help drive the reduction, or better yet, complete elimination of single-use plastics on the island.
The call to reduce or eliminate the use of plastics in Saint Lucia was made several years before the Styrofoam and Plastics (Prohibition) Act was passed.
At the time, it seemed like everyone was trying to reduce the nation’s love for plastic. And it worked.
I recall Massey Stores announcing in a press release in May 2018 that it was launching a campaign to discourage the use of single-use plastic bags for bagging groceries at the registers of all stores in the region. Mr Massey spoke about the company’s strategy to reduce plastic waste as part of its broader efforts to increase environmental friendliness throughout its operations.
How effective have these bold conversations about plastic reduction in Saint Lucia been? Will plastic use have significantly decreased in Saint Lucia in 2023? Or will plastic use gradually creep back into Saint Lucian society? Is there one? If so, what are we doing to stop it?
The Styrofoam and Plastics (Prohibition) Act came into effect on August 1, 2019, banning the import of All Styrofoam® and certain single-use plastic food service containers. This was followed by a phase-out period of 12 months each as Phase 1 and Phase 2.
Today, we can boldly say that this law has largely achieved its stated purpose.
When it comes to Massey Stores’ commitment to significantly reduce the use of plastic in the regions where it operates, we are bold to state that the company has also succeeded in achieving that goal. Massey said the use of single-use plastic bags has been reduced by 60% to 90% across all of his stores.
Furthermore, a year after its bold announcement that it would start charging for single-use plastic bags, its stores have recorded a positive response from customers, with 80% of single-use plastic bags in circulation across 48 stores nationwide. He said it had decreased by ~90%. Territories of operation – Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Guyana. This reduction means that over the past year he has removed more than 40.5 million bags from circulation.
What Massey has done is instill in the people of St. Lucia the need to do away with plastic bags, a move that is very likely to lead to at least a significant reduction, if not avoidance, of plastic pollution in the environment. is. By charging her 25 cents for bags, the company forced us to rethink our use of plastic. Other stores are following suit, emulating what has been a successful effort to eliminate plastic pollution in the country.
But the story doesn’t end there.
We are witnessing a trend that, if not stopped, could send our island back into the environmental fight against plastic.
Some of the plastic bags used have the word “biodegradable” written on them, meaning plastic that can be broken down by the action of living organisms. However, not all plastic bags used in this country are biodegradable or degradable.
Then there are bottling companies that fill plastic bottles with sugar-sweetened drinks. What about companies that sell bottled water? Does the bottling company have a plan for environmentally safe disposal of plastic bottles?
At the heart of all this is that plastic bags and bottles still end up in drains and rivers, blocking them and causing flooding, and we’ve been warned about this many times.
What conundrum do we have to ask ourselves when we claim to have laws in place to reduce or eliminate the use of plastics in our country, yet those same plastics still threaten the environment? Are you building it?
Are we slowly but surely returning to where plastic once was?