Environmentalists call out companies for shirking responsibilities on bottle returns
By Sheria Brathwaite
Two environmentalists are taking the Government to task for failing to ensure the private sector complied with the amended Returnable Containers Act.
Director of The Future Centre Trust Kammie Holder and retired Director of the Centre for Resource Management and Environmental Studies at the University of the West Indies Professor Emeritus Robin Mahon said they were taken aback to learn that the business owners to whom the Act applies were unaware of the legislative adjustment.
In fact, they are calling out the relevant authorities for allowing them to “duck” and “shirk” their responsibilities.
“The Government has put the law in place and it has not done what is required to make it work. It is Government’s job when you pass a law for the good of the country to make sure that the people to whom it applies, comply with the law . . . . They can’t just be continually selling the products and expecting that somebody else will clean up the mess. It is up to the Government to say that that attitude is not good enough and to hold their feet to the fire, so Government needs to put more pressure on these companies to comply to have a cleaner Barbados,” said Mahon.
In 2019, the Returnable Containers Act was amended to expand the list of containers that should be accepted for return to include separate sealed glass, metal, aluminium, steel or plastic bottle, can, jar, carton or other receptacles which may consist of other materials that are recyclable or reusable and is capable of holding 3.8 litres or less.
This amendment gives reusable items other than polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles and glass bottles value, as they can be redeemed for between five cents to 15 cents each.
However, Mahon said consumers were being “shortchanged”.
“Because when they buy a bottle of Lucozade from a supermarket they are paying the five cents for it and when they carry back the bottle they can’t get back their money. So they are ripping off the public and that is not acceptable,” he said.
“Maybe we need another roundtable to discuss how this could work because these companies managed to shirk it and nobody is calling them to account.”
Based on his interpretation of the Act, Mahon said “the supermarkets, service stations with minimarts attached, [distributors] and other businesses that import reusable containers should be the ones making arrangements for the public to bring back those things”.
Holder said when the Social Partnership met a few years ago to discuss the way forward on eliminating single-use plastics, the tenets of the amended Act were discussed.
“The [then] Minister of the Blue Economy Kirk Humphrey sought out environmental stakeholders, supermarkets, non-governmental organisations [and] importers. [We] were all at the table to discuss the proposed ban on petroleum-based cutlery as well as plastic bags . . . . Therefore, it’s extremely disheartening to hear persons in business and the Government saying they are unaware of the Returnable Containers Act,” he said.
“When you are given responsibility, it’s expected you become a prolific reader if you intend to offer exemplary service in an effort to make well-informed decisions that are knowledge-based. When persons with power and leadership are not well read, they will always be ill-informed and uninformed, leading to poor decision making.”
When contacted, Minister of the Environment Adrian Forde said he could not comment.
Quizzed on their knowledge of the amended legislation, members of the business community said they were not aware of it.
Speaking on behalf of the private sector, head of the Barbados Chamber of Commerce and Industry Anthony Branker said he “was totally unaware” about the changes.
“We would now have to understand the implications of that amendment and what is expected of us,” he added.
Marketing director of Armstrong Agencies Andy Armstrong said although he only recently heard of the changes, he hoped “there will be some mechanism put in place for people to return the jars and other items”.
“In theory, this is a great idea, it just needs to have mechanisms in place,” he added.
When contacted, owner of EK’s Bottling Depot Ernest King said enough was not done to publicise the amendment to ensure companies were compliant.
“There hasn’t been anything put in place as yet with that, so even though the legislation is in place, Government needs to implement an enforcement mechanism to ensure compliance. Without some sort of enforcement system, nothing can happen,” he said.
Management of some supermarkets who did not want to be identified said to accept the variety of containers outlined in the amended legislation would be “too much” of a cost at this time.
Meanwhile, owner of B’s Recycling Paul Bynoe said he knew about the changes and complained that some “agents” were refusing to accept the containers.
In the meantime, Bynoe said he was getting by by shredding all the reusable containers redeemers brought back and exporting them.
Bynoe also said that Government intervention was needed to enforce the act, adding that authorities could find creative means to tax the containers when they enter the port.
sheriabrathwaite@barbadostoday.bb
