BASSETERRE, St Kitts, (CMC) – The St Kitts and Nevis government has launched a plastic ban campaign to raise public awareness and support for its agenda towards banning, phasing out and replacing selected single-use styrofoam and polystyrene products.

The Ministry of Environment, Climate Action and Constituency Empowerment said the timeline for the complete ban is divided into three stages, with the announcement of the ban on the importation of single-use plastic shopping bags scheduled for December 31 this year.

The government will, on March 31 next year, ban the importation of single-use plastic shopping bags, excluding biodegradable bags and on June 30, ban the sale and distribution of plastic shopping bags

It will also on June 30 next year, place a ban on the importation of all single-use styrofoam food containers and plastic straws, including egg box trays with the government setting September 30 next year as the date for the ban on the sale of styrofoam food containers, including egg boxes, trays, and plastic straws.

The Ministry of Environment, Climate Action and Constituency Empowerment said the campaign is intended to continue reducing the Federation’s existing negligible contribution to global warming and the devastating impacts on the region’s oceans, landfills and the overall environment caused by larger countries, the government is making moves to ban non-biodegradable items.

An official from the Department of Environment, Eavin Parry, speaking on a radio programme in the country, said the ban is necessary given that the plastics are non-biodegradable and do not break down naturally.

“And so that affects the environment, it affects the biodiversity, even human health because they might break down to an extent in which it’s just microplastics – we might now see it, but it exists within the environment, affecting our soils, affecting the air when they are burned,” he told radio listeners.