HAITI TO BAN THE PLASTIC PLAGUE

September 29, 2012

As from Monday October 1, 2012, Haitians will no longer be able to import, manufacture or deal in plastic and foam containers. With all the problems Haiti is facing in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake of January 12, 2010, it is commendable that the government is finding the time to focus on the important, as well as the urgent issues.

Disposable plastic products, like bags and containers, are more than just a nuisance, because at the same time as they litter land and sea, they are also responsible for the deaths of creatures, particularly birds, who mistake then for food. Thousands die this way every year. As well as this, plastic is not biodegradable and when it does break down, in a process that lasts hundreds of years, it seeps into the soil and water. Although pure plastic has low toxicity, entering the food chain could have serious consequences. Besides, plastic is often mixed with additives that can be poisonous.

Only this week, the Tara Expedition which had been working in the Arctic, announced that a "disturbing" amount of plastic pollution was found in the Arctic; an area that had been thought relatively pollution free. The findings add some weight to the argument held by the American oceanographer Captain Charles Moore, that "plastic is now a bigger problem than climate change".

Haiti will become part of a very exclusive club of nations and cities that have banned plastic containers, such as Rwanda, which became the first country in the world to do so. It is probably high time that club started to get bigger. 008. It is probably about time that the club got bigger!