Executive Chairman of COT Holdings, Nigel Worme, showing Minister of Maritime Affairs and the Blue Economy, Kirk Humphrey (left) one of their new products.
The possibility that the food-grade containers currently being imported into the country since the ban on plastics was introduced, are not all meeting the required standards, has not escaped the notice of stakeholders in the industry or the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and the Blue Economy.
While things appear to be above board, Minister of Maritime Affairs and the Blue Economy, Kirk Humphrey, said testing is being done and he will also be putting a case to Cabinet to move the penalty for bringing in the banned plastics from $50 000 to $100 000. He explained the aim is to bring that law in line with the fine imposed under another piece of legislation for persons who import contraband into the country.
The matter was raised recently when Humphrey and officials of his ministry took a tour of COT Holdings, at its Newton Industrial Estate offices, to see first-hand the new “Ecotogo” products that COT Holdings is offering.
According to Managing Director of COT Holdings, Nigel Worme, it is a fully recycled board and that has a grease guard coating on the inside, which meets the highest European standards for direct food contact. This, he added, makes the entire package biodegradable and under the right conditions, even compostable.
During the tour, Worme expressed concern that a lot of the products, while cardboard-based, have a polyethylene coating in the form of a thin film of laminate. He said unlike the box, that laminate will not disintegrate and “there is no real way of successfully addressing that”.
“We believe those products don’t successfully address the intention of Minister Humphrey’s ministry and we also see a lot of products which look to the eye to be plastic [and] claim to be plant-based, but with no means of being able to recycle them, our concern is they will also be a problem for the landfill going forward,” he said.
Reflecting on his comments, Minister Humphrey said that his ministry is carrying out various tests on the containers being brought into the island, and in collaboration with the Barbados National Standards Institution is working to fine-tune the standards for the containers.
“In the amendments you will see very soon, certainly before April, we have very clearly identified the different HS codes which would determine which area these products fall under and the licence that would be necessary for persons who are importing biodegradable containers. And they would have to get that from the Ministry of Commerce and state exactly what are the components of every single product that they bring into the county,” he said.
He continued, “But the reality is also, we do have to test because there are some products that meet, as Mr. Worme said, by just looking at it they meet all the necessary standards”.
The Minister, noting that the tests are costly, said that his ministry is seeking to have it undertaken by a testing body within the Caribbean to help bring those costs down, as the testing will be done on a consistent basis. The Minister said that the possibility of products which do not meet the standard slipping through is real, as the products may look the part and so, he said, unless they are tested it is hard to know.
“...Every person who makes a claim does not necessarily meet the claim that they make... So for the persons who have been importing products that seem to suggest that they fit that which we allow under the new legislation, then the warning from the government will be clear. If you have violated the legislation there are penalties associated with that and we intend to enforce those penalties,” he said. (JRT)
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