‘Single-use plastic giving City Hall headache’

Apr 29, 2022 News

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– solid waste director urges EPA to implement promised ban

By Rehanna Ramsay

Kaieteur News – Since the ban on styrofoam in Guyana some seven years ago, the Georgetown Municipality has been grappling with a host of environmental issues when it comes to the disposal of single use plastic.

Head of the Solid Waste Department at the Mayor and City Council (M&CC), Walter Narine explained that the use of plastic has a very dire effect on the work of the council. According to Narine, plastic makes up about 6.7 percent of the garbage that is collected from the drains, canals and road corners of the city every day. Narine noted that the plastic has found a way to create a similar problem that the city had with Styrofoam years ago. “We see the same type of dumping that was done with the Styrofoam happening with the plastic. Plastic is generally an issue especially the single-use plastic; bags, straws, containers and so forth are always clogging up the waterways and creating unsightly, unhygienic and horrendous situation for the Council when it is dumped around the city,” the Solid Waste Director stated. He explained that since plastic is basically part of everyday life it is a difficult issue to tackle.
“This is a major problem because plastic is not expensive and everyone uses and disposes it as they wish. I believe if we had a system that plastic is removed and the price of shopping bags is more expensive, so when people go to the market place, they have to reuse the bags and packages we will always have this problem.”
According to Narine, the Council expends close to $18 M every month clearing garbage piles and dumps across the city. He noted that if plastic is effectively banned it will help reduce the monthly expenditure and resources used by the municipality to clear the garbage. The Solid Waste Director noted further that there has been much talk about banning single use plastics by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) but it is yet to materialise.

Narine added: “The council is aware that its scope is limited when it comes to tackling this problem so we welcome any assistance and will work with the stakeholders to bring an end to the problem.” He stressed further that for the environmental issues to be addressed properly, it will require political will. “If every sector works together; Central Government, the EPA, the Council, and the citizens we can address the issue,” the Solid Waste Director said.
Narine’s comments come amidst a announcement by the EPA about a long term plan to ban single use plastics. Public Relations Officer attached to the EPA, Aretha Forde told Kaieteur News that the agency has been working on its strategy. “There are measures that can be put in place but we are really working on our strategy… Recycling is always an option but there are very few places that recycle which limits how much can be done in this regard,” she said.
Forde noted nonetheless that the EPA is looking at working with the Ministry of Finance and Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) to create duty-free incentives to distributors and businesses that would use alternatives to the single use plastics. “There are a number of alternatives to single use plastic. There are other products made from bamboo, coconut husk and other biodegradable products. Hemp also provides a viable option to make material that can be used instead of the plastic. So these are the options at the moment until the EPA’s full plan is put into effect,” she said.
In 2020, the EPA announced that the ban on single use plastics will come into force from 2021. Back then, the agency noted that even as Guyana prepares for this monumentous intervention regarding the waste management dilemma with plastic, it was reminded of lessons from previous waste management of Styrofoam.
In enacting the Styrofoam Ban 2015 Regulations, it was noted that while the majority of consumers and businesses alike were willing to comply, the lack of alternatives, and more-so locally sourced ones posed a challenge. It is anticipated that similar challenges will be faced in enacting the ban on single-use plastics which has wider reaching implications. Many alternatives to plastic exist, from cloth, to paper, seaweed, and other natural fibres such as bagasse. As such, the EPA said instead of plastic shopping bags and packaging – companies have the opportunity to select the perfect specimen or encourage the use of sustainable tote bags.
Alternatively, it noted too that consumers can easily make their own totes from any light fabric (e.g. an old t-shirt) or simply pack produce in an old cardboard box.
“Pack your empty produce bags and a few reusable shopping bags together in a single reusable bag …” the agency had instructed.

 

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