IN an effort to improve the pollution situation in Guyana, Government has approved a menu of measures to restrict the use of Styrofoam products.

At his usual post-cabinet media briefing, Head of the Presidential Secretariat and Cabinet Secretary, Dr. Roger Luncheon, advised that cabinet has approved this move, and it is a mandate which will be championed by the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment.
However, he said this would be a collaborative effort being executed under the command and control of the Natural Resources and the Environment Ministry, and will also include inputs from the Ministries of Health and Tourism, Industry and Commerce.
Luncheon related that there are two important aspects of achieving this end: firstly, the imposition of taxes and duties on the importation and use of Styrofoam as a disincentive to its importation and use in the food industry; and secondly, the creation and offer of incentives to importers and users of alternatives to Styrofoam in the food sector.
“Cabinet thrusts upon the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment the responsibility of fully elaborating on these two aspects of its intent to restrict importation and use of Styrofoam, and essentially to evolve implementable measures on those two aspects,” he said.
Luncheon noted that Styrofoam is a synthetic, non-biodegradable material which has played an inordinately important role in the accumulation of solid waste in Guyana. He added that, because of its chemical nature, Styrofoam is not useful in recycling operations. As such, he said, it ends up in landfill sites, where “evidence is they exist for eternity.”
With regard to pollution caused by plastic bottles, Luncheon said he would soon be reporting on the status of the recycling programme that has been adopted by cabinet, and is being implemented in the 10 administrative regions of Guyana.