McManus
FUNERAL HOME
SERVING THE CARIBBEAN COMMUNITY WITH
LOW COST FUNERAL PACKAGES
Before choosing a funeral home
We invite you to visit our newly decorated chapels
And compare our affordable pricing and dedicated service
www.mcmanusfh.com
4601 Avenue N (at E. 46 St.)1 Block off of Flatbush Ave.
When you’re ready to
change your life.
When you’re ready to
change the world.
Kingsborough is here for you.
APPLY IN PERSON: Village Center | Room V-100
Financial aid & payment plans available for eligible students.
Caribbean L 18 ife, Jan. 25–31, 2019
Over 70 programs
of study offered.
To schedule a tour or
for more information:
718-368-4600
www.kbcc.cuny.edu
2001 Oriental Boulevard
Brooklyn NY, 11235
KINGSBOROUGH
COMMUNITY COLLEGE
Barbados bans
plastic imports
By George Alleyne
Barbados will on April 1 begin a
phased ban on plastics entering the
country for use in sale of goods or to
complement sold items, rounding up
to an almost total prohibition nine
months later.
This means that within six weeks
the island will no longer import or
allow any form of trade in single-use
petro-based plastic cups; straws; cutlery,
including plastic knives, forks and
spoons; stirrers; plates; egg trays, both
plastic and Styrofoam; and Styrofoam
containers used for food in the culinary
retail industry.
Plastic, a proven environmentally
unfriendly material, is ever-present in
society that a total ban is near impossible
as the material is embedded in
products vital to human life such as
medicines and medical equipment.
Additionally, some forms of commercial
production are almost impossible
without it.
This explains why the Barbados
government has adopted a staggered
approach to abolishment of plastic use
in circumstances where the material is
replaceable.
“In relation to straws we’ve given a
moratorium on the tetra pack of straws
because all over the world they’re still
grappling with how do we handle those
straws,” explained Kirk Humphrey, the
minister of Maritime Affairs and Blue
Economy, as he made the announcement
Tuesday.
The ban is not extended to pharmaceutical
products and other imports
that are packaged in plastic for hygienic
purposes.
Plastic bottling of local fruit juices
is to be allowed, but recycling legislation
governing these containers will be
introduced and enforced.
There was a push-back on the planned
banning of plastic bags because of economic
considerations.
“When we started this process our
thinking was originally that on Jan. 1,
2019 we wanted to ban all single-use
plastics including plastic bags,” Humphrey
said and explained, “Barbados
however has an industry of persons
who manufacture plastic bags and so we
extended … to April 1, 2019 to accommodate
the manufacturers of plastic
bags.”
This four added months proved too
short a time for such producers to
either wrap up operations or switch to
an alternative.
These producers, who employ a substantial
number of Barbadians, were
given nine more months from the April
1 date.
“But after Jan. 1, 2020 there will be
no petro-based plastic bags being used
in Barbados,” Humphrey said.
Kirk Humphrey, Barbados minister
of Maritime Affairs and Blue Economy.
Photo by George Alleyne
“We do not wish to come to an established
industry that employs Barbadians
and deprive them of opportunity,
but we also know that the cost of continuing
to use these things in Barbados
will outweigh any potential benefits.”
Government will be working with
these fabricators to come up with a “a
bio-based material, to use a different
resin that would allow them to make
an environmental healthy and friendly
bag.”
Since local industry operators were
forewarned in September about the
pending ban, they have been perfecting
use of alternative material to replace
the swath of plastic utensils that will be
prohibited by April.
“These items here are not petrobased.
Most of them come from a natural
bio-base. Some are made from
paper, some from sugarcane, some are
bagasse…and they are strong enough
to carry food,” Humphrey said.
The minister tied the ban on plastics
with Barbados’ target of becoming a
fossil-free nation by 2030.
“We want to be a country that when
we speak to the world we speak to the
world as an environmentally friendly
destination.”
The seas with its abundance of
marine life has become the biggest victim
of discarded plastic. And, when it is
considered that the ocean contributes
to a substantial portion of Barbados’
economy through fishing, tourism, and
water sports, this ban on plastics seems
like a no-brainer, and leaves one to ask,
“what took you so long?”
/www.mcmanusfh.com
/www.kbcc.cuny.edu
/www.kbcc.cuny.edu