More direct messaging is needed to highlight the impact throwing a wrapper out of a car window can have on a country, and how plastic pollution affects climate change.
Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of the Environment and National Beautification, Green and Blue Economy, Yolande Howard, made this call as she addressed a Plastics Drawdown Consultation Workshop at the Hilton Barbados Resort, recently.
The Ministry is currently working with the UK-based company, Common Seas, to undertake a project to examine the leakage of plastic to the environment from established waste management systems.
Once concluded, the methodology will result in the preparation of a Plastics Drawdown Roadmap for Barbados, targeted at reducing the volume of plastic waste likely to reach the coast and contribute to the global efforts to reduce the plastic pollution of the marine environment.
However, Ms. Howard contended that while science and research drive policy and development, it was important to have critical research information before creating new policies or amending old ones.
“It is expected that the outcomes of this implementation of the plastics drawdown will help us to be better informed,” she said, noting that the Ministry was working with representatives to come up with realistic policies that were relevant to what was happening in Barbados.
At the same time, the Permanent Secretary underscored the importance of public education to the process. “We need to change our messaging so people will understand that what they do has an effect on the environment, particularly the marine environment.
Ms. Howard pointed out that if one looked at the ban on sea egg harvesting, it was important to allow those who love the delicacy to understand why they could not be harvested at this time. “It is because their growth has been impacted by the marine pollution and plastics pollution,” she explained.
The Permanent Secretary stressed that messaging needed to be more direct so that people understood that it was the small things they did that were impacting the country in a major way.
Technical experts from Common Seas will work with local experts in Barbados to deliver a comprehensive analysis of plastic waste generation, management and pollution in Barbados.
This analysis will provide a strong evidence-base to assist the country in establishing a National Action Plan, which sets out a comprehensive new approach to tackling plastic pollution over the next 10 years.