Ending plastic pollution: Make it everybody’s business

For past few years we have seen how our beaches are polluted with used plastic bottles and bags. With the introduction of degradable bags, we see less bags but the bottles still remain. Most of the Western Province coastline is so full of garbage that one cannot even walk on the beaches.Is Paradise already lost as a result of our own doing?

Plastic pollution of the sea is one of the growing hazards of today. As a result of fish consuming plastic, the consumption of fish will pose the threat of cancer in the next few years. That will effectively eliminate the entire fishing community’s income and eating seafood will be something of the past.

The business community utilises one-time use plastics to increase their profits and the public in general use it for their convenience. Unfortunately they all think pollution by plastic is someone else’s problem.

Collection of plastics and re-cycling cost money. If the government pays a subsidy for re-cycle collectors and centres, entrepreneurs could be motivated to open more re-cycling centres. The Government should charge a tax /cess for all users of one- time plastics. Users can surely afford to pay the cost for the re-cycling or alternately use a reusable bottle/bag and avoid the tax. Western countries already charge a tax for re-cycling at the point of sale for plastic bottles and cans. This has helped to encourage people to reduce the usage and also give the plastic to re-cycling centres for money-- in the process earning them an income too.