In January, 2019, Jamaica introduced a ban on single-use plastic bags, plastic straws and Styrofoam in a bid to reduce the impact plastic is having on the environment.

Before the ban, Jamaica was known to have one of the highest per capita uses of plastic bags in the world, with the average person estimated to use around 500 bags each year.

The ban covers the manufacture, importation and distribution of disposable plastic bags, including the formerly ubiquitous black “scandal bags”, named as such due to their opaque black color that prevents others from viewing the scandalous contents contained inside!

One of Jamaica’s youngest parliamentarians spearheaded the movement towards waste reduction on the island. Matthew Samuda is a Jamaican Senator who has long been involved in Jamaican politics,  and was appointed to the Upper House of Parliament in 2016 at the age of just 32. Though this new role he saw the opportunity to champion environmental causes.

Samuda has lived his whole life in Kingston, Jamaica, pursuing various entrepreneurial, civic and political areas. He was also a founding partner of Jamaica’s first full-service recycling company, which processed waste material for export, reducing the amount going to landfill.

In an interview, Senator Matthew Samuda discusses Jamaica’s drive to reduce plastic waste:

James Ellsmoor: How was Jamaica able to move so quickly? Did the government involve universities and the private sector?

Matthew Samuda: The Prime Minister, The Most Honourable Andrew Holness, has repeatedly stated his commitment to robust economic growth and protection against environmental degradation. Though often a difficult balancing act, he has continually demonstrated this commitment.

When the motion was adopted by the Senate, The Prime Minister. threw his support behind it. This allowed me to galvanize the support of the varying stakeholder Government Agencies to get the necessary work done. His leadership and support is what allowed the policy to become a reality. I am actually happy that it is viewed as having moved quickly.

Admittedly,  there were times where it felt like the process was dragging on, without an end in sight. The policy received support and in some cases “blood, sweat & tears” from many stakeholder groups in society. These groups were represented by a Working Group which was charged with the responsibility to make the policy recommendations and oversee the implementation.

James Ellsmoor: What has been the response to the move? Is this creating any business opportunities?

Matthew Samuda: The response has been mostly positive. However, it is a major cultural change in our consumption pattern for us in Jamaica. So, it has received its fair share of angst and apprehension from some circles.

I would break the responses down by category:

• The Parliamentary Opposition has supported the ban. This gives the benefit of not being subject to a political fight.
• Environmental groups have been the most vocal in civil society in supporting the policy. However, the main groups from the Private Sector being the Jamaica Chamber of Commerce, the Private Sector Organization of Jamaica, and the Jamaica Manufacturers & Exporters Association also have all issued statements of support.
• The Jamaica Hotel & Tourist Association have also supported the measure with member Hoteliers like Sandals extending the policy regionally to their hotels.
• Groups like Rotary & Kiwanis Clubs locally have also expressed their support.

The major concerns have come from sections of the Manufacturing sector which used to produce the banned items. To be fair, that’s to be expected. The Government, however, has responded through the Development Bank of Jamaica by making financing available for retooling.

Matthew Samuda working on a beach cleanup.

 

The main concern which has come from members of the public has been related to containerization of waste, which many of the banned bags would’ve previously been used to do. The policy as designed doesn’t ban “Garbage Bags” specifically for this reason. It has created a hybrid of sorts, where some bags are banned and bags for containerization of waste, and as primary food packaging are exempt. This forces persons to pay in some cases for these bags, much like what has been implemented in the UK.

James Ellsmoor: What would you recommend to other countries and regions looking to ban plastics? What lessons can be learned from Jamaica’s experience?

Matthew Samuda: Consult, Engage, and Act!

Any policy change of this nature requires the support of citizens. Generally, persons globally are developing a greater understanding of the impact humans have on our environment and specifically the impact of plastic consumption. This, however, doesn’t reduce the need for any government to consult its citizens and to engage them in the policy process.

In the Jamaican case, the major lesson would be the need for a robust public education campaign once the policy has been determined. I would encourage any Government, to ensure this aspect is paid the attention it requires. This is an important component of the engagement process.

In this consultation and engagement process, it is important to ensure the citizens understand the urgency of now though. We are running out of time to protect our environment from this scourge of plastic pollution. Deadlines then become important, and critical.

The government will also be encouraging citizens to reduce their plastic use by, among other things, buying tote bags.

“We’re moving towards a ban on single-use plastic, but while we do so, we’re also working on a Plastic Minimisation Project in collaboration with United Nations Environment, and with the support of the Government of Japan, to reduce and manage plastic marine litter from the land-based activities, in an environmentally sound matter,” stated Daryl Vaz, a member of the Jamaica’s ministry of economic growth and job creation.

… In recent years, more than 60 countries have taken action against plastic production in response to growing awareness of a crisis levels of environmental pollution.

More than 380 million tons of plastic are produced each year and the vast majority of this material is thrown away, never to be recycled. A lot of this plastic, up to 13 million tons per year, makes it into the world’s oceans where it causes great harm to marine life. A UN report found that up to 5 trillion plastic bags are used each year, which, if tied together, would span the planet seven times every hour.

Further, a 2014 study estimated that 5.25 trillion pieces of microplastic are in marine environments. By 2050, ocean plastic could outweigh fish. These microplastics are so pervasive that humans actually eat around 70,000 microplastic fibers every year.

When Jamaica’s new law goes into effect by 2019, millions of more tons of plastic will have made it into the world’s oceans. By then, hopefully, plastic production will have peaked…

September 18, 2018

SEE FULL ARTICLE AT: Jamaica Announces Plan to Ban Styrofoam, Plastic Bags, and Plastic Straws

This indigenous town banned all plastic products and turned back to traditional methods. Their motivation? Saving the environment.

The European Parliament has voted for an extensive ban on single-use plastics to stop pollution entering the world’s oceans.  Products including plastic plates, cutlery, straws and cotton buds will all be eradicated from 2021 under the plans.

The ban is intended to affect items for which valid alternatives are available, which are estimated to make up over 70 percent of marine litter.

In a far-reaching set of proposals, EU lawmakers also set out plans to make companies more accountable for their plastic waste.  The regulations will now have to be approved in talks with member states, some of which are likely to push back against the strict new rules.

The plan was initially proposed in May after a wave of public opposition to single-use plastic swept across the continent.

A father and son on a makeshift boat made from styrofoam paddle through a garbage filled river as they collect plastic bottles that they can sell in junkshops in Manila. The father and son team earn some three US dollars a day retrieving recyclables from the river.

        

        

Fragments of plastic have been found everywhere from Arctic sea ice to fertilisers being applied to farmland.

Animals as small as plankton and as large as whales are known to eat plastic, and as tiny shards enter the human food chain they seem to be ending up inside humans as well.

While much still remains unknown about the impact plastic is having on the environment and human health, environmentalists have called for urgent measures from industry and governments to curb the flow of plastic.

“We have adopted the most ambitious legislation against single-use plastics. It is up to us now to stay the course in the upcoming negotiations with the council, due to start as early as November,” said Belgian liberal Frederique Ries, who was responsible for the bill.

Under the new rules, member states would have to ensure that tobacco companies cover the cost of cigarette butt collection and processing in a bid to reduce the number entering the environment by 80 percent in the next 12 years.

Similar measures would apply to producers of fishing gear, who would have to help ensure at least 50 percent of lost or abandoned fishing gear containing plastic is collected per year.  Fishing gear accounts for over a quarter of waste found on Europe’s beaches, and “ghost fishing” is thought to be responsible for thousands of whales, seals and birds dying every year.

EU states would also be obliged to recycle 90 percent of plastic bottles by 2025, and producers would have to help cover costs of waste management.

Environmental groups have criticised companies like Coca Cola, Pepsi and Nestle, which collectively are responsible for a vast proportion of plastic waste, for not doing enough to tackle pollution.

Other plans set out by MEPs included an intention to reduce consumption of other plastic items for which there are no viable alternatives by at last a quarter by 2025. These include various food containers and fast food cartons.

The parliament backed the range of proposals with a 571-53 majority. “Today’s vote paves the way to a forthcoming and ambitious directive,” said Ms Ries.   “It is essential in order to protect the marine environment and reduce the costs of environmental damage attributed to plastic pollution in Europe, estimated at €22bn (£19bn) by 2030.”

Many European nations have already proposed their own measures to cut back on single-use plastics. On Monday the UK government announced plans to ban plastic straws, drink stirrers and cotton buds in a bid to “turn the tide on plastic pollution”.

By Josh Gabbatiss, Science Correspondent, Independent

October 24, 2018

https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/plastic-pollution-ban-vote-eu-european-parliament-environment-ocean-meps-a8599686.html

Producing, selling and using plastic bags becomes illegal as officials say they want to target manufacturers and sellers first.

Kenyans producing, selling or even using plastic bags will risk imprisonment of up to four years or fines of $40,000 (£31,000) from Monday, as the world’s toughest law aimed at reducing plastic pollution came into effect.

The east African nation joins more than 40 other countries that have banned, partly banned or taxed single use plastic bags, including China, France, Rwanda, and Italy.

Many bags drift into the ocean, strangling turtles, suffocating seabirds and filling the stomachs of dolphins and whales with waste until they die of starvation.

“If we continue like this, by 2050, we will have more plastic in the ocean than fish,” said Habib El-Habr, an expert on marine litter working with the UN environment programme in Kenya.

“This is something we didn’t get 10 years ago but now it’s almost on a daily basis,” said county vet Mbuthi Kinyanjui as he watched men in bloodied white uniforms scoop sodden plastic bags from the stomachs of cow carcasses.

Kenya’s law allows police to go after anyone even carrying a plastic bag. But Judy Wakhungu, Kenya’s environment minister, said enforcement would initially be directed at manufacturers and suppliers.

It took Kenya three attempts over 10 years to finally pass the ban, and not everyone is a fan.

Samuel Matonda, spokesman for the Kenya Association of Manufacturers, said it would cost 60,000 jobs and force 176 manufacturers to close. Kenya is a major exporter of plastic bags to the region.

“The knock-on effects will be very severe,” Matonda said. “It will even affect the women who sell vegetables in the market – how will their customers carry their shopping home?”

Big Kenyan supermarket chains like France’s Carrefour and Nakumatt have already started offering customers cloth bags as alternatives.

Reuters, August 28, 2017

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/aug/28/kenya-brings-in-worlds-toughest-plastic-bag-ban-four-years-jail-or-40000-fine

UPDATE:  Visiting Kenya a year into its plastic bag ban

A big step divides opinion

Until this time last year, the bags that have now been written out of quotidian existence were widely used, especially at places like Nairobi’s bustling Kangemi market where traders sell everything from fruit and veg to clothing.

The recyclable  fabric totes that now hang on each stall are 10 times the price of their illegal plastic predecessors. Many customers bring their own bags or carry their goods in buckets instead.

For Wilfred Mwiti, who regularly shops at the market, the plastic bag ban isn’t a problem. On the contrary.

“I’m okay with the ban and my feeling is that the government should work out a way in which the remaining bags could be eliminated,” he said, referring to packaging on individual food items.

But not everyone has embraced the new rules with such enthusiasm. Although she acknowledges the environmental benefits of the law, sweet-potato vendor Martha Ndinda is still struggling with the new reality.

Traders and shoppers alike have had to rethink the way they go about their daily business.

“I used to sell sweet potatoes in plastic bags, they were packed in plastic bags for them to remain fresh. But now they’re becoming dry so fast,” she said.

Unwrapped unemployment

The biggest critic of the ban is the Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM). Prior to the new rules, the country was home to 170 plastic-producing companies that employed almost 3 percent of the Kenyan workforce.

Sachen Gudka, who runs a label-manufacturing company, is chairman of KAM and one of the country’s most influential businessmen.

He says a lot of companies, which received no government compensation following the ban, had to close in its wake, and that around 60,000 jobs were lost as a result, directly and indirectly. He would have liked to see the legislation phased in more gradually.

“Kenya used to have a thriving economy in terms of plastic bags to the neighboring countries, all those export earnings have now been lost to Kenya,” Gudka said.

The future is recycling

Betty Nzioka of NEMA, is hoping those neighboring countries will soon follow Kenya’s lead, resulting in “a collective ban across East Africa.”

Plastic dumped on waste sites like these is easily blown about and ends up in waterways and in places where it is ingested by unsuspecting animals.

Until that happens, the authorities will continue to face challenges, such as the illegal import of plastic bags from countries such as Uganda.

On the whole however, Nzioka is pleased with public willingness to accept the changes, and welcomes the upshot of cleaner streets and fewer plastic bags turning up in fishing nets  and cows’ stomachs.

Well before the ban, in 2013, student and photographer James Wakibia launched a social media campaign with the hashtag #ISupportBanPlasticsKE, calling for an end to single-use plastic bags.  Wakibia’s activism attracted widespread attention, including from the government in Nairobi, which put a ban at the top of its to-do list.  Plastic carrier bags and their smaller, thinner counterparts used for packaging fruit and vegetables have now been outlawed for a year.

Wakibia wants the government to implement more ambitious rules and would like to see the ban expanded to include further products like bread packaging.  “Many are exempt from the ban of plastic bags,” he said. “My call is to ban all single-use plastic, like plastic straws.”

That’s a move that wouldn’t be popular with KAM.

. . . Wakibia is now working with activists from Zambia and Sudan on a forward strategy. Because even though his route into Nakuru is now largely free of plastic bags, he knows the broader issue is far from solved.

READ FULL ARTICLE AT:

https://www.dw.com/en/visiting-kenya-a-year-into-its-plastic-bag-ban/a-45254144

Costa Rica wants to become the world’s first country to achieve a comprehensive national strategy to eliminate single-use plastics by 2021.

The Central American nation intends to replace single-use plastics, such as plastic store bags, straws, coffee stirrers, containers and plastic cutlery, with biodegradable or water-soluble alternatives, or products made of renewable materials (think plant starches).

The initiative is led by Costa Rica’s Ministries of Health and Environment and Energy with support from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and from local governments, civil society and various private sector groups.

Costa Rican government officials announced the country’s ambitious plan on June 5, 2017, World Environment Day.

“Being a country free of single use plastics is our mantra and our mission,” according to a joint statement from Environment and Energy minister Edgar Gutiérrez, Health minister María Esther Anchía, and Alice Shackelford, resident representative for UNDP Costa Rica.

“It’s not going to be easy, and the government can’t do it alone,” the statement continues. “To promote these changes, we need all sectors—public and private—to commit to actions to replace single-use plastic through five strategic actions: municipal incentives, policies and institutional guidelines for suppliers; replacement of single-use plastic products; research and development—and investment in strategic initiatives.”

“We also need the leadership and participation of all: women, men, boys and girls,” the statement notes.

Costa Rica has emerged as an global environmental leader, with its frequent 100 percent renewable energy streaks and its 2021 goal of becoming carbon neutral—a deadline set a decade ago.

However, the officials point out in their statement that Costa Rica’s impressive environmental record still has room for improvement.

“Although the country has been an example to the world by reversing deforestation and doubling its forest cover from 26 percent in 1984 to more than 52 percent this year, today one fifth of the 4,000 tonnes of solid waste produced daily is not collected and ends up as part of the Costa Rican landscape, also polluting rivers and beaches,” they explain.

“Single-use plastics are a problem not only for Costa Rica but also for the whole world,” they add. “It is estimated that if the current consumption pattern continues, by 2050 there will be more plastic in our oceans than fish—measured by weight. For this reason, we began our journey to turn Costa Rica into a single-use plastic-free zone.”

“It’s a win-win for all: Costa Rica, the people and the planet.”

By Lorraine Chow, Ecowatch

August 7, 2017

https://www.ecowatch.com/costa-rica-ban-single-use-plastics-2470233949.html

UPDATE: Use of Plastics in Public Institutions is now prohibited

In an effort to find alternatives that significantly reduce pollution, Carlos Alvarado, the President of Costa Rica, ordered to restrict the use of plastics in all public institutions of the country.

According to the guideline established by the president, all canteens of public schools, health system institutions, cafeterias, and prisons should avoid single-use plastics such as dishes, removers, disposable cups, and cutlery.

It was stated that other public institutions such as the University of Costa Rica and the Costa Rican Petroleum Refinery have adopted restrictions for the use of plastics. The measure is taken in order to avoid the incorrect disposal of this material that has negatively impacted the country in environmental matters.Additionally, Alvarado and the Minister of Environment and Energy, Carlos Manuel Rodríguez, signed an agreement that instructs the ministries of Education, Justice, and Social Security to abstain from the purchase, use, and consumption of single-use plastics, by declaring that “we are giving unequivocal signals about our orientation in environmental matters”.

By The Costa Rica News staff,

June 19, 2018

https://thecostaricanews.com/use-of-plastics-in-public-institutions-of-costa-rica-is-restricted-from-now-on/

On 30 May, Chile became the first South American country to approve a nationwide ban on single-use plastic bags, garnering congratulations from around the world for its efforts to beat plastic pollution ahead of World Environment Day on 5 June.

In 2017, under the presidency of Michelle Bachelet, the country banned the use of plastic bags in 100 coastal communities. But the government of current President Sebastián Piñera decided to take things one step further, proposing to the Congress to extend the measure nationwide.

The ban will come into force in one year’s time for major retailers and in two years’ time for smaller businesses.  “Today we are more prepared to leave a better planet to our children, grandchildren and the generations to come,” said Piñera.

Several other countries in Latin America and the Caribbean are using taxes, bans, and technological innovation to restrict the production and consumption of plastic bags and reduce their harmful impact on oceans and marine species.

It is estimated that the world consumes each year up to 5 trillion plastic bags, mostly made of polyethylene, a low-cost polymer derived from petroleum, which takes at least 500 years to degrade. Only 9 percent of all plastic waste is recycled.

Latin America and the Caribbean – home to the Amazon Basin, the Patagonian highlands, and a dense concentration of coral reefs – is incredibly rich in biodiversity.

Governments around the region have been delivering bold pollution-beating policies. Antigua and Barbuda was the first country in the region to ban plastic bags in 2016. Soon after, Colombia passed a similar ban, and in 2017 applied a tax to large plastic bags, while ordering changes to their design with the aim of achieving greater resistance and reusability.

The measure has helped reduce plastic bag consumption by 35 percent and raise a total of 10,460 million Colombian pesos (about $3.6 million), says Andrés Velasco, vice minister of Finance and Public Credit of Colombia.

The tax began at 20 Colombian pesos for each plastic bag in 2017, and will increase 10 pesos each year until reaching 50 pesos in 2020 – equivalent to approximately $0.02.

Colombia’s neighbor, Panama, became at the beginning of 2018 the first country in Central America to ban polyethylene bags. The country is also drawing up a national plan to combat marine litter.

The Panamanian legislator Samir Gozaine, one of the supporters of the law, says that the mentality of the population is changing and more and more people are choosing reusable or biodegradable bags, such as cardboard or thread bags.

“Similar legislation has been passed by a growing number of countries in the world, so yes, we can say that we are moving forward in the battle against plastic bags,” says Gozaine.

Costa Rica adopted a national strategy to drastically reduce the use of disposable plastics by 2021, while in the Caribbean, Belize, Bahamas and Bermuda have passed or are drafting laws to eradicate single-use plastics.

Ecuador aims to transform the remote Galápagos Islands into a plastics-free archipelago: no more plastic straws, bags or bottles will be sold or used after 21 August of this year.

In Peru, several bills on the issue of plastic bags are debated in Congress. The most recent, prepared by the Government, seeks to reduce the consumption of this product by 35 per cent during the first year of implementation.

In the cities

The region’s three biggest cities – Mexico City, São Paulo and Buenos Aires – have also joined the fight against plastic bags. The Mexican capital was one of the first to do so. In August 2009, the capital city government reformed the Solid Waste Law and prohibited stores from dispensing bags free of charge.

Buenos Aires went a step further: starting from 1 January 2017, all of the city’s supermarkets were prohibited from using or selling disposable plastic shopping bags.

Before the law, 500 million plastic bags per year were used in the city, according to Eduardo Macchiavelli, the Minister of Environment and Public Space in the Argentine capital.

A lot of these bags would end up in the city’s waterways, triggering floods, a situation that changed “notoriously” after the implementation of the law, Macchiavelli said. A similar ban is also in force in other Argentine cities including Rosario, Pinamar and Bariloche. “It is necessary for large cities to take an active role, since being the most densely populated, they generate a greater impact on the environment,” says Macchiavelli.

In São Paulo, the government approved a law prohibiting the free distribution of plastic bags in shops in 2011. However, the measure was suspended for several years due to legal claims, until its implementation was finally endorsed by the Brazilian justice system in 2015.

According to data from the City Council of São Paulo, the consumption of disposable bags was reduced by up to 70 percent during the first year of the implementation of the law.

UN Environment’s Clean Seas campaign aims to drastically reduce the consumption of disposable plastics and eradicate the use of microplastics that pollute the world’s oceans. Twelve countries in the region are part of the campaign:  Barbados, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Grenada, Ecuador, Panama, Peru, Dominican Republic, Saint Lucia and Uruguay.

June 2, 2018

https://www.unenvironment.org/ru/node/21818

Plastic straws and white foam containers will soon be a thing of the past in Vancouver. 

Vancouver city Council voted in May, 2018 to ban plastic straws and foam cups and takeout containers effective June 1, 2019 — six months earlier than initially proposed — making it the first municipality in Canada to ban the single-use disposable items.

“It’s a big boost towards Zero Waste 2040,” Mayor Gregor Robertson told council. “This is a really important step forward to demonstrate how serious we are in phasing out plastics and making sure we are working aggressively towards zero waste.”

Council also voted to provide more funding for outreach and education to support businesses and organization affected by the ban.

It did not impose a ban on plastic bags or disposable coffee cups, opting instead to work with businesses to reduce their use, whether by charging customers a fee, providing incentives not to use them, or ditching the items altogether.

Some speakers warned council the ban might have unintended consequences for people reliant on plastic bags and straws, including those with disabilities and low-income people.

A speaker from the Potluck Cafe Society, which provides healthy meals for people in the Downtown Eastside, expressed concern over the effect the new measures would have on their operating costs.

While the society endorses the strategy and the city’s zero waste goals, Downtown Eastside food providers will need more time to implement the changes, said Dounia Saeme. She asked the city to consider initiatives such as a subsidy program or capital grants to support the groups through the transition.

Joe Hruska, of the Canadian Plastic Industry Association, told council before the vote that the ban will increase landfill waste and greenhouse gas emissions. He called on council to defer the ban and consult with industry to find other solutions.

Some councillors raised concerns that the ban might affect businesses’ and consumers’ bottom lines and worsen affordability.

Robertson said the city is already spending $2.5 million a year to collect single-use waste items from public trash bins and litter in public spaces.

“I think zero waste is directly tied to more affordability,” he said. “It’s a dangerous thing to conflate taking action to be clean and green to creating more costs.”

Representatives of bubble tea shops asked council to delay the plastic straw ban because no viable alternatives for bubble tea straws are currently available on the market.

“Our industry depends on straws,” said Katie Fung, a manager at Pearl Fever Tea House. “This ban will be detrimental to many businesses in our city.”

Every week, 2.6 million disposable coffee cups are thrown into street garbage bins in Vancouver while 58 million straws are thrown out every day in Canada.

Victoria has implemented a plastic bag ban starting July 1, but that is being challenged in court by the Canadian Plastic Bag Association.

In North Vancouver, Deep Cove merchants have banded together to stop using plastic straws. Organizers of the movement plan to provide paper straws to help ease the transition for some businesses.

by Cheryl Chan

May 21, 2018

Vancouver city council bans plastic straws and white foam containers

When you land in Rwanda, your luggage is checked, not for guns or drugs, but for plastic bags. Rwanda banned plastic bags in 2008. Ordinary citizens had little problem with this ban, but industry complained. In time every understood that Rwanda gained more from banning plastic bags rather than keeping them.

10 years free from plastic bags. Read more: http://bit.ly/2FfhZMV

Plastic microbeads, he tiny beads which harm marine life, can no longer be used in cosmetics and personal care products in the UK, after a long-promised ban came into effect on January 9, 2018. The ban initially bars the manufacture of such products and a ban on sales will follow in July.

Thousands of tonnes of plastic microbeads from products such as exfoliating face scrubs and toothpastes wash into the sea every year. Photograph: Hennel/Alamy Stock Photo

Thousands of tonnes of plastic microbeads from products such as exfoliating face scrubs and toothpastes wash into the sea every year, where they harm wildlife and can ultimately be eaten by people. The UK government first pledged to ban plastic microbeads in September 2016, following a US ban in 2015.

The huge problem of plastic pollution choking the oceans has gained a high profile with recent revelations that there are five trillion pieces of plastic floating in the world’s seas and that the debris has reached the most remote parts of the oceans, Microbeads are a small but significant part of this which campaigners argued was the easiest to prevent.

. . .  Pressure is now mounting for action on plastic bottles – a million are bought every second around the world and they make up a third of the plastic litter in the seas. In December, the UK’s environmental audit committee (EAC) of MPs called for a deposit return scheme, which has successfully increased recycling rates in other countries.

Mary Creagh MP, EAC chair, said: “The microbead ban is a step in the right direction, but much more needs to be done. Since we called for a ban, my committee has also recommended the deposit return scheme, a latte levy for plastic-lined coffee cups and reforms to make producers responsible for their packaging. We look forward to hearing the government’s response.” . . .

By Damian Carrington, Environmental Editor, The Guardian

January 9, 2018

READ FULL ARTICLE AT:

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/jan/09/plastic-microbeads-ban-enters-force-in-uk

France has apparently become the first country in the world to ban plastic plates, cups and utensils, passing a law that will go into effect in 2020. Exceptions will be allowed for items made of compostable, bio-sourced materials.

The new law is a part of the country’s Energy Transition for Green Growth Act, the same legislation that also outlawed plastic bags in grocery stores and markets beginning in July, 2016. Although plastic bags are forbidden in other countries — including in some U.S. states — no country seems to have embraced a plastic ban as sweeping as France’s will be.

The general idea behind the law — following the landmark conference held in Paris last fall on curbing global warming — is to promote a “circular economy” of waste disposal, “from product design to recycling,” French lawmakers say.

Objections to plastic as a material are well known. For one, it does not biodegrade and only breaks down into smaller and smaller particles, which pose a significant danger for wildlife that cannot always distinguish it from food sources, particularly in oceans. Aside from ecosystem disruptions, millions of barrels of oil are used every year in manufacturing plastic bags and utensils, playing what environmental activists call a significant role in climate change.

In the words of French President François Hollande, the ban is part of a larger push intended “to make France … an exemplary nation in terms of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, diversifying its energy model and increasing the deployment of renewable energy sources” — starting, it would seem, with the forks and knives distributed at fast-food restaurants and the coffee cups in vending machines. . . .

By James McAuley, The Washington Post

September 19, 2016

READ FULL ARTICLE AT:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/09/19/france-bans-plastic-plates-and-cutlery/?utm_term=.10654a5fa940