Barbados needs to introduce measures to promote wide-scale recycling as a matter of urgency, if concerted efforts are to be made to protect the environment and reduce the waste going to the landfill.
Kammie Holder, advocacy director with the Future Centre Trust, noting that more countries across the world and even within the region are embracing such initiatives, maintained it is time that Barbados follows suit. He made the point as he noted that if persons are given incentives to recycle, he believes that they will. His comments came as he suggested that Barbadians needed also to have a greater appreciation for the environment and how their actions can positively or negatively impact it.
“The truth is 100 per cent of household waste can be recycled, even old clothing is now being used to make microfibres. So if a person really cares about the environment, they can recycle the glass, the magazines, the paper and even the old clothing,” he said in an interview with The Barbados Advocate.
He made the point while indicating that the Returnable Containers Act is in dire need of amendments. Holder is suggesting that the list of items included in the legislation should be expanded to further promote recycling among Barbadians. By doing that, he added, it creates opportunities for persons to engage in such businesses.
“You cannot speak about the plastic bag deterrent fee and not speak about how people dispose of their waste. We recognise that persons use plastic bags to dispose of their garbage, but if we can recycle more items then the need for those bags is also reduced. So we’ve asked that the Government increase the number of things in the Returnable Containers Act, as currently it does not include things like water bottles, but the Government has not responded to date,” he lamented.
Holder says that the Future Centre Trust is also advocating for Government to introduce a registry for all appliances, so that when such appliances are dumped illegally, they can easily trace their origin and prosecute the perpetrators appropriately. He lamented that too often persons dump their items illegally and are not held accountable for their actions and he is adamant that this must become a thing of the past.
With that in mind, he said that they are hopeful that the changes to the Returnable Containers Act and the laws to govern the illegal disposal of appliances can be put on the statute books in the not-too-distant future. He made the point while saying that such could be included in new environmental legislation they have been told is being pursued by the Ministry of Environment. With that in mind, he is calling on the authorities to consult the relevant stakeholders if such legislation is being contemplated.
“We understand that there is new legislation being worked on, but NGOs like the Future Centre Trust have not been consulted to date. We appreciate that it may be at an early stage of development and are asking that if this is indeed on the cards, that all the stakeholders are allowed to have their say,” he stated. (JRT)