Barbadians urged to get on board with plastic ban

With Government’s proposed ban on single-use plastics and Styrofoam set to take effect on April 1, BICO’s Executive Chairman Edwin Thirlwell is encouraging industry stakeholders to embrace the project which has the long-term goal of protecting the environment.

He said today that while it might seem biodegradable and compostable packaging are more expensive than the traditional plastic and styrofoam, the damage and cost of the latter are much greater in the long run.

Thirlwell acknowledged that it was not practical for all plastics to be immediately eliminated, but said every effort should be made to reduce their indiscriminate use.

“We know that even here at BICO we still have some ice-cream packaging containing plastics and we are currently doing our research and discussing with suppliers as to what can be done to reduce or eliminate those. So we have to wait for those developments in packaging technology. But, in the meantime, we must do what we can to reduce plastic contamination,” he said.

“We’ve just begun a campaign to encourage consumers to reduce, reuse and recycle any remaining plastic packaging, including any of our ice-cream containers that qualify.”

Thirlwell was speaking at BICO’s Eco-Pak Biodegradable Expo at Cricket Legends, Fontabelle, St Michael.

He said the event was designed to showcase the wide and varied possibilities in environmentally-friendly packaging.

In 2016, BICO introduced such packaging with the Vegware brand, and called on industry stakeholders to reduce contamination of the environment from plastic and styrofoam, by using more compostable packaging.