KINGSTON, Jamaica – Government member of the Senate, Matthew Samuda, has proposed that the administration ban the importation of plastic bags below 50 gallons and styrofoam products.

Senator Samuda, the president of the Jamaica Labour Party’s (JLP) professionals body, Generation 2000, who is among the first new members of the Senate to table a motion, also wants the government to curtail production of these items in Jamaica, unless they include biodegrading enzymes.

Samuda’s motion noted that Jamaica has a waste management problem, “due to poor habits and inadequate resources and much of the items which enter the waste stream is non-biodegradable”.

It said that these items pose their own individual challenges “to the waste management conundrum and offer little opportunity for recycling or reuse”.

He said that action is needed to significantly reduce unrecyclable material entering the waste stream, while creating employment opportunities for local manufacturers for alternative packaging.

“No single action will solve our problems in this area, but rather a series of well considered policies over the short term,” Senator Samuda’s motion said.

Balford Henry