Page 38 - IB June 2017

We Say
The great plastic threat

THE region faces an enormous threat
from plastic bags and other synthetic
material initially designed to make life
easier.
Every day, thousands of plastic bags
are used in shops, supermarkets, depart-
ment stores, restaurants and roadside
market stalls.
Thirty years ago, bread was wrapped
in newspaper or newsprint, tied with
string and carried under the arm from
local shops to homes.
The string was recycled – sometimes
used to end up as part of a child’s home-
made toy – and the paper was used to
wrap rubbish, clean windows or light
a fire.
Paper and string are bio-degradable
and break down easily if they are bur-
ied or merely left at the mercy of the
elements.
Now, bread is pushed into plastic bags
for that same journey home from stores
around the Pacific.
Indeed, every possible purchase from
a shop is carried home in some form of
plastic which will take hundreds of years
to decompose.
Some households use plastic bags to
hold rubbish which is removed by mu-
nicipal councils.
The contents of the bags, however, Garbage patches are becoming a frequent sight in the Pacific Ocean.
decompose quickly while the plastic re-
mains in the dump preventing aeration
of the soil. have been ruined by thoughtless people of it from plastic bags and bottles – of
In some town dumps the plastic bags who, with no regard for the city or for drains and waterways critical to clearing
are not buried and are blown onto the others casually leave their rubbish to be storm water.
roadside to pollute the environment. carried off by stray animals and the wind. From the Solomon Islands comes the
At other municipal facilities, plastic is Surely this is not the Pacific tourists welcome news of attempts to create a
burned releasing harmful chemicals into wish to see, nor is it one to which they plastic bag-free environment.
This is a movement by the people for
the air and the soil. wish to return? the people which can lead to a much
It is time for governments to enforce
For a region dependent upon the envi-
ronment for its survival, the Pacific is in- environmental laws designed 15 years cleaner community.
credibly blasé about the effect of plastic. ago to protect the environment and keep Some encouragement from central
Routes traveled by tourists are dotted Fiji clean. government towards the leaders of such
It is time for a return to the traditional
with mounds of cast-off plastic materi- paper bags and wrappers which were initiatives is welcome.
Shops which wish to use plastic should
als – pieces of television sets, washing
machines and microwave ovens. environmentally friendly. pay hefty taxes which can be used to
Empty Styrofoam food containers, Community leaders have a duty to in- clean up the mess created by people who
plastic drink bottles and the ubiquitous still pride in villagers and town residents cause the pollution. And as always there
noodle packets dance in the air as they alike, preaching the virtue of a plastic is a place for faith leaders to preach the
bag-free society in order to prevent pol-
reduction in the use of plastics in order
are thrown skyward by passing vehicles
on our main highways. lution. to care for the environment.
The waterfront in countries through- There are have been cases in many Most importantly it is time for indi-
out the Pacific – once picturesque spots Pacific towns where flash flooding has viduals to be more serious about not
for Sunday walks and daily lunches – been caused by the blockage – much using plastic.
l We Say is compiled with the oversight of the editor.

38 Islands Business, May 2017