GOVERNMENT sources have indicated that there will be some level of leniency for end users of styrofoam containers in the food and beverage industry, such as restaurants and other types of eateries.

The Government’s ban on the local manufacture, distribution and use of expanded polystyrene foam containers — commonly called styrofoam after a US brand — which have become a staple in the food and beverage industry over the years, took effect on January 1.

The new regime comes a year after the ban on the use, importation and manufacture of specific categories of single-use plastic packaging material, including what are commonly known as scandal bags.

The high-level source noted that for the previously implemented ban, individuals who had leftover stock of plastic bags and other products in the banned category were given a chance to phase those out.

The source said the Government does not want to send mixed signals regarding the ban, but that it will not be pursuing establishments that package “box lunches” in the outlawed containers in the first week or month of the ban.

The source stressed that the Government is “being reasonable, but at the same time [doesn’t] want anybody to exploit or abuse it”.

The source said, too, that the immediate focus will be on the distributors and manufacturers.

Meanwhile, head of the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA), which is responsible for administering the ban, has dismissed concerns that the price of “box food” will spike as a result of the implementation of the ban.

“There is not going to be any box food prices jump,” Peter Knight told the Jamaica Observer yesterday.

He insisted that the market will adjust itself, and that some operators have already, in fact, been turning to alternative containers.

“People in trade and industry, including the sidewalk man and soup man, have been using alternative food packaging from months ago, and there has been no explosion in the price of food. There isn’t going to be an explosion. The price is going to come down as soon as the market opens up. A lot of these are myths by people who want to keep using styrofoam,” he argued, pointing to the high levels of support for the ban on single-use plastic bags and straws.

“They said Jamaica wasn’t ready [and] look at the beauty of what has taken place,” he said.

“If you educate people, if they understand, if you give them alternatives, Jamaicans are going to support it, and we saw that with the plastic ban. Jamaican people have risen to the occasion.

“We have to be careful of the narrative that is being pushed by a certain sector because they didn’t get what they want. We have spoken to a number of importers of alternatives and there isn’t going to be any explosion in the cost of products, and we expect that the market is going settle down,” he stressed.

The ban is being enforced under the Natural Resources Conservation Authority (Plastic Packaging Materials Prohibition) Order, 2018.

More than 40 businesses have been fined since the ban was implemented on scandal bags a year ago.

Under the Trade Act and the Natural Resources Conservation Authority Act, breaches attract a fine of $2 million and $50,000, respectively, as well as an imprisonment term of two years.