The long-promised ban on plastic lunch boxes will take effect on December 31.

The date was announced on Thursday by minister without portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation Matthew Samuda, who had previously announced that the ban would take effect this year as part of the Government’s bid to ensure greater waste management and safeguard the environment from pollution caused by this harmful material.

According to Samuda, some business owners have found a way to get around the ban on expanded polystyrene foam, commonly referred to as Styrofoam, for use as finished goods in the food and beverage industry by using another plastic solution for lunch boxes.

“We will close that loophole because it was certainly not intended to be replaced by PET [polyethylene terephthalate], although, to be frank, PET is still a better material than Styrofoam, but not the material that we want,” said Samuda.

“Recycled, paper-based solutions [are what we want for] our lunch boxes,” added Samuda during his address at the signing of a memorandum of understanding for the National Environment and Planning Agency’s (NEPA) Adopt-A-Mangrove Programme .

Samuda reiterated that the Government will also be soon introducing a ban on personal care products that have microplastics in them.

“So there are some variants of deodorants [and] facial soaps that have plastic beads in them that are deleterious to human health and there is no sewage-based system on Earth that will extract these plastic beads before they are put out into the environment. So we are looking at the items that can be removed from our waste [before they create a pollution issue],” said Samuda.

On January 1, 2019, the Government instituted a ban on the importation of expanded polystyrene foam for use as finished goods in the food and beverage industry. A ban was also placed on the importation and manufacturing of plastic drinking straws.

In addition, the local manufacture and distribution of polystyrene foam for use as finished goods in the food and beverage industry was banned as at January 1, 2020.

Further, on January 1, 2021, the importation of plastic straws attached to lunch juice boxes and drink pouches was banned. However, an extension was granted for six months before enforcement took place.