The content originally appeared on: Cayman Compass
According to the Jamaica Information Service, the Jamaican “Government will be taking steps in the 2023/2024 financial year to widen its ban on single-use plastic as it seeks to further protect the country’s natural environment from degradation and destruction.”
The Jamaica Information Service said that the statement was made at an event held at the York Castle High School in Brown’s Town, St. Ann, on March 17, 2023, where it was communicated that “The principal intent of the ban is to prevent non-recyclable, non-biodegradable carcinogenic waste from entering our garbage.”
Based on the statement, the target of the widening ban will include “microbeads, which are microplastics in personal-care products and different types of lunch boxes which are made of plastic.”
In the case of Cayman, youth-led groups like Plastic Free Cayman and Protect Our Future have been campaigning for years to encourage the Cayman Islands Government to institute legislation to ban single-use plastics.
While Plastic Free Cayman has had dialogue with previous administrations, no legislation appears to have been passed to actually ban single-use plastics.
In this sense, Cayman’s neighbour, Jamaica, appears miles ahead of Cayman, having reportedly “imposed a ban on the importation, manufacture and distribution of single-use plastic bags, straws and polystyrene” from January 1, 2019, according to the Jamaica Information Service.
Until local authorities take steps to pass similar legislation, the young leaders of Plastic Free Cayman and Protect Our Future will continue to bear the burden of collecting thousands of pounds of plastic and other garbage each year around Cayman.
