BASSETERRE, St Kitts, 24 September, 2022 – The Government of St Kitts and Nevis is working to find solutions for the rising challenge of plastic pollution.
Currently attending the 77th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), Minister of Environment and Climate Action, Hon. Dr. Joyelle Clarke participated in high-level discussions on policy solutions to tackle plastic pollution, using a national to global approach.
Dr. Clarke said addressing plastic solutions, and in particular, micro plastic, does not require just political will but strong legislation supporting restricting of the importation of single-use or disposable plastics, but also requires financial assistance being established with support to transition from plastics to renewable material which is often an issue of waste management.
She said, “We will have to address plastic pollution including plastic that is coming in and plastic that is already in the environment. There is also a need for a culture shift where persons engage more in sorting and recycling of their garbage and limiting their dependence on plastic so that we can move forward towards the global trend of banning plastic to stay true to our Prime Minister’s bid to become a sustainable island state.”
The general tone of the session focused on ways to find solutions to totally ban the production of single-use or disposable plastics. Such things are water bottles, straws and plastic bags that are used only once before they are discarded or recycled. The Ministers agreed that the amount of resources required to manufacture these products for exporting and importing, does not make it worthwhile, especially to the environment.
