New plastic bans have been gazetted
The new waste management regulations were gazetted into law yesterday. These are the plastic bans which were announced at the beginning of the year. From 1st December this year the following items are banned:
Plastic flowers
single use plastic cups
single use plastic folks
single use plastic knives
single use plastic plates
single use plastic spoons
single use plastic stirrers
Plastic egg cartons
Plastic mesh
The definitions of single use bag has been changed to include all types of plastic and all thicknesses and sizes. So all kinds of single use shopping bags are covered by the ban including the so-called “biodegradable” or “compostable” ones.
The definition of a “disposable container” made of polystyrene has been changed to include open containers not just closed or lidded one.
Click here to see a copy of the official gazette
We should be saying “Ta Ta Plastik” to those red meshes in the markets and supermarkets very soon
International Coastal Cleanup – Download your data sheet
If you want to organise your own litter clean up you can download your data sheet here.
If you want to join our cleanup see the details on our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/events/431781834349027/https://www.facebook.com/events/431781834349027/
Litter survey for World Environment and World Oceans days
You might have seen that we have an exhibition on this week with the theme Beat Plastic Pollution for World Environment Day. We are encouraging people who are doing cleanups to collect data on the litter they pick up.
Data on litter helps us see what items are causing the biggest problem in the environment. Last year’s data on litter clean ups helped shape the policy and informed the government on what items to include in the first round of the plastic ban. The ban on plastic bags, plastic straws and polystyrene takeaway boxes comes into effect on 1stJuly. So this year it is really important to gather as much data from clean ups in as many different places as possible. It would be really useful to see the data from June – before the ban and from September – 2 months after the ban, to see how effective the ban is at stopping these plastic items getting into our environment. We are appealing to you to collect the data from a clean up you do in your area and to clean up the same area in September and collect the data. Then to give the data sheets back to VESS so we can add it all together and put it in the report!
You can download the data sheets here: they are available in English, French, or Bislama. You can either scan and email the completed data sheets to vess@vanuatuconservation.org or take a photo of them and upload them to our Facebook page or you can drop the data sheets off at our office upstairs at Anchor House (we are in the same building as Novodental/ medical and South Pacific Travel which is next door the the Waterfront Bar and Grill).
