Guyana says it is forbidding imports of plastic foam containers, starting in June. That amounts to a virtual ban since there are no domestic producers.

Natural Resources Minister Robert Persaud says importers have a seven-month grace period to switch to alternative containers, such as cardboard.

Guyana has been considering a ban for several years because plastic foam boxes have clogged drainage systems, contributing to deadly floods.

Several US cities and counties have either banned or considered banning plastic foam containers.

Haiti banned the sale and general use of plastic in October 2012, and earlier this year carried out a first-of-its-kind raid to enforce the widely ignored law. Haitian authorities said it confiscated bags and containers at warehouses at three locations in the capital of Port-au-Prince.

Haiti’s environmental ministry official Tacite Toussaint told The Associated Press that similar operations are planned throughout the country and at the border with the Dominican Republic.

Plastic bags and foam containers are a huge problem in Haiti, not just as a source of litter but because they clog the storm drainage channels in the flood-prone country.