Ban Plastic Then What?

Visiting Oil platform and Tangled Plastic Blob - Barbados

Imagine this. I’m walking on the beach, feeling the sand between my toes, gazing at the beautiful horizon, thinking about how good that water will feel on my skin and then the music of the experience stops rudely.

What is it this time….a plastic fork…. a piece of a Styrofoam container…a piece of plastic bag or worst of all - an indescribable blob of “I don’t know what but it’s not natural”.

I know there are others who are as tired of this as I am.

There are people who will pick up every piece of garbage they see when they are at the beach.

There are people who will painstakingly make sure they never leave a trace of garbage at the beach.

There are people who run after plastic bags when they blow away.

Then, there are people who really don’t care or they just don’t understand how their littering, dumping, overuse of plastic and dontcarish attitude comes back to haunt them and everyone else too.

There are beach clean ups, announcements by governments and announcements by the private sector rallying behind banning plastic or Styrofoam.

Although there has been a recent surge in the Caribbean in the last year, a call has been going for banning certain materials in the Caribbean for a while. This call has even seeped into double entendre calypso (Red Plastic Bag’s song – Waste (1995).

Waste - by Red Plastic Bag (1995)

So why are we still seeing plastic, why is there still a perception that Styrofoam is cheaper than biodegradable options…is it and why?

We are still seeing so much plastic because our problems are about convenience, behavior and who profits from green economy changes.

What green economy changes though?

How about green economy changes which substitute plastic and Styrofoam with biodegradable, recycled content, compostable materials and products. Green economy products which already exist range from sugarcane bagasse, recycled pet bottles, burlap/crocus/jute, cotton/linen canvas and hemp.

On first glance looking through the news, you will see that India, certain U.S. states, Guyana, St. Vincent, Trinidad and Barbados have made public statements about banning Styrofoam or plastic.

Ask people who live in these countries how things are really changing. It may correlate with how efficiently that country enforces littering, illegal dumping and incentives for biodegradable/compostable options.

It may also correlate with how much financial ownership residents of these places have of the solutions.

Can incentives to import biodegradable options really deal with the issue? Yes in the beginning but not unless there is a phase-in plan to have biodegradable options created locally.

Why isn’t the volume on this solution that loud? Because the greatest advocates for biodegradable options could be technology companies which are already making products. However most of these companies operate under a business model based on exporting rather than- technology transfer, valuing local knowledge or prioritizing locally sourced products (aka real sustainability).

Certainly, every country has some plant that can be used to make biodegradable alternatives to plastic and Styrofoam right?

What about the option of incentivizing equipment and investment in human resources for a transition to a green economy?

In terms of behavior changes – it is not enough to put out a few videos of public relations campaign which tells people to keep the place beautiful. Really, how long have we been doing this in the Caribbean? Do we really think this is working?

Obviously the people who don’t care are NOT going to tune into these messages.

This is why the only way we can make the case for behaviour change is when each of us sees how we can directly benefit first rather than seeing how we directly lose out when we pollute. We can all agree that if something benefits us, it is worth it right?

This is why developing local product options is the way forward and it needs to be led by businesses willing to operate with this in mind, businesses which employ locally for both strategic and hands-on labour and finally this needs to be lead by those who consume and contribute enough Styrofoam and plastic to our waste streams to make a difference.

Pt. 2 Ban Plastic Then This.

- Ariana Marshall Ph.D. - An environmental scientist who lives where you vacation but because of

plastic I have no time to vacay. Fix it (please).

#Earthday #Wastemanagement #music