Caribbean lead person for the global network Plastics Pollution Governance Framework, Dr. Andrea Clayton is criticizing the Jamaican Government for not banning plastic bottles when it moved to stamp out the use of Styrofoam containers, single-use plastic bags, and plastic straws over two years ago.
“Look at how many plastic bottles are out there. Somebody may have been selling bag juice, and you introduce a ban on plastics, and you run them out of business. These people now say, “Ok, I am going to sell it in bottles now’. Now, I am selling the same amount of plastic bags – or more – in plastic bottles,” she said, adding that companies need to absorb some of the responsibility for plastic pollution.
Clayton said a full campaign is needed around the proper use of plastics that spans well beyond the Nuh Dutty Up Jamaica initiative, which aims to reduce littering across the country.
