Minister commits to dump solution, mum on plastic ban
(CNS): In an address to mark World Environment Day, which this year was focused on beating plastic pollution, Environment Minister Kathy Ebanks-Wilks accepted that this is a growing problem here in the Cayman Islands. But even as she committed to addressing the wider waste-management problem and the George Town dump, the minister made no mention of the long-awaited plastic ban that has failed to materialise.
It has been more than a year since the government said it was working on amendments to the customs law to roll out a ban on a number of single-use plastic items, such as bags, styrofoam food containers and straws. But that legislation has still not been released for public consultation.
The average person in Cayman generates about 11lbs of waste each day, more than five times the global average, and a lot of it is plastic. This breaks down into microplastics, which scientists are now finding in fish, drinking water, blood, breast milk and bone marrow, causing real health concerns.
Ebanks-Wilks said that the government, the private sector and individuals have made efforts to minimise single-use plastics and reduce the amount going into the landfills. However, without addressing the situation regarding the missing ban, she noted that there was still so much more that people can and must do.
“The environment, sustainability and health are inextricably connected. Our physical and mental health and wellbeing are affected by our environment — one cannot thrive without the other,” Ebanks-Wilks stated in the message. “Sustainability can no longer be viewed in isolation; rather, sustainable practices and policies must saturate every sector if we are to truly make a difference.”
The minister stated that one of the top priorities for the government was addressing the waste management problem, particularly the George Town landfill, which she had visited the previous day.
“It is perhaps our most pressing and visible environmental challenge and a matter of national importance,” she said. “I am committed to delivering a strategic plan for waste that benefits our country for generations to come.
“As the population of our islands grows and we welcome more tourists from all over the world, the need for an effective and financially sustainable waste system is more urgent than ever,” she said, pledging to ensure that the government prioritises “a solution that offers effective and affordable waste management in the Cayman Islands”.
In the meantime, she urged the community to rethink how plastic is used, encouraging people to reduce, reuse, and recycle instead of throwing things away.
“I will be working internally with my teams… to introduce and adhere to more sustainable practices in our day-to-day work, and to do what you have been asking of us: lead by example,” the minister stated, adding that she was committed to driving holistic and relevant policies that reduce the impact of plastic on our land and waters, and setting strategic goals that will move our country forward on its journey towards a more sustainable and resilient future.
“I invite you to have an honest look at the amount of waste your home is producing,” she said before challenging the country to take small steps to reduce household garbage disposal by one bag per week.
“This small step will give our landfill more capacity, which then provides the government with time to properly plan for a robust waste management system,” she said, without mentioning the significant impact that a mandatory ban of various single-use plastics could have if the legislation passed.
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Category: Environmental Health, Health
In the global effort to curb pollution and champion sustainability, many governments have swiftly enacted bans on plastic bags, replacing them with paper alternatives. On the surface, this seems an environmentally sound decision. Paper, after all, is biodegradable and perceived as more “natural.” But this perception obscures a very complex and sobering reality. A knee-jerk switch from plastic to paper is not only imprudent polic–it is environmentally unsound when considered in a broader and full lifecycle context.
The environmental costs of paper bag production are often overlooked in public discourse. That is always the case here. Yet the data are clear: producing a paper bag consumes four times more energy than a plastic one. From the deforestation that clears carbon-absorbing forests, to the water-intensive and toxin-emitting pulp processing, to the use of harsh chemicals in bleaching, the paper bag’s carbon and ecological footprint quickly becomes staggeringly negative.
The myth of sustainability is further undermined by the volume of raw materials required. It takes roughly three times as much raw material to produce a paper bag as it does a plastic one. Moreover, paper bags are heavier and bulkier, increasing emissions from transportation and storage. In a comparative 2011 study by the UK Environment Agency, it was found that a paper bag must be reused AT LEAST three times to match the carbon footprint of a single plastic bag. In practice, however, paper bags are less durable and rarely used more than once.
While plastic bags are rightfully criticized for their persistence in the environment and may be a threat to health, it is a stupid and irresponsible solution to swap one environmental harm for another with a worse total ecological footprint. Effective environmental stewardship demands a more holistic view: one that considers entire supply chains, resource use, energy intensity, and wider impacts.
The Minister rightly states: “Sustainability can no longer be viewed in isolation; rather, sustainable practices and policies must saturate every sector if we are to truly make a difference.” If the Cayman Islands–in isolation, and callous disregard of the wider implications–bans plastics and embraces paper to benefit only us, then we are just as irresponsible as those morons who totally refuse to practice sound ecological stewardship because they perceive that it is to their personal benefit to do so. We become–as Mr. Haig was fond of saying–rubber squeaking toys.
Sustainability!” has become a catchy bite, a great dog whistle used by those often clueless as to what it really means. If sustainability truly is the goal, then the focus should be on reducing single-use products altogether, regardless of material. Durable, reusable bags—whether made of cloth, recycled plastic, or other materials—offer a more responsible path forward.
A poorly though-out, knee-jerk rejection of plastic in favour of paper might win favour among the clueless, but it has no place in a sound and sustainable national plan.
In banning plastic without assessing the full consequences of its replacements, we are making symbolic gestures that feel “green” but are, in fact, not. Environmental progress demands evidence-based decisions, not silly, Henny Penny reactionary policies rooted in public pressure or optics. Paper is not necessarily a responsible solution. Until we start thinking in terms of systems instead of sound bites, we will keep solving the wrong problems…
…and doing more harm than good.
5:06 – Paper bags, when disposed of, do not damage the marine environment (micro-plastics, tangled turtles).
Paper (from trees) are a sustainable resource. Plastic (from oil) is not.
“The environmental costs of paper bag production are often overlooked in public discourse. That is always the case here.” – that is always the case everywhere, we’re not that special.
Who can explain what the obstacles are as to why we don’t have a single use plastics ban? Is it really lack of will, incompetence or a blockade?
What do you propose that we replace single-use plastic with? Give us some examples?
For every sustainable food container sold here, there are 100x more single use plastics discarded across the island daily.
Even if there is a single use plastics ban, the DGAF culture will still litter.
I recycle the four major categories, but wonder where does it all end up after all the effort.
According to DEH it gets baled up and sent off island. No facilities here to actually recycle stuff, or to do Waste To Energy like the ISMWS/Dart project was supposed to (burn the recycling to make electricity).
I think Beacon Farms does compost food waste they get from a cooperative project with Island Waste haulers and Fosters.
Can we have a journalist or young activist actually follow the path of some of these recyclables to see if they actually make it off island or being crushed or whatever?
That’s a lot of waste. too much
Tic Tok Kathy…. Get a move on. Time for talking has come and gone.
Yeah Kathy, why haven’t you fixed everything yet? It’s already been … *checks notes* … over 30 days!
+4 years
You mean when she was deputy speaker, then thrust into the UPM and kneecapped with little-to-no say in actual government business? Or a different 4 years?
Same four years that she was a member of the government with collective responsibility for all issues, including the dump.
Make it mandatory to do recycling as in other countries, use a designated truck to collect, this is not hard to do. Perhaps ask the Miami/Dade solid waste authority for advise on how they do it. Also build a proper recycle center/transfer station so the separated items can be prepared for recycling. In any case DO NOT INVOLVE DART! All his group will do is rape the people for their own benefit.
Any commitment as yet for 65s and under 18s Cinico Coverage? Give us a reason why please. I am one of the over 65 uncovered by Cinico and can’t afford to pay Health Insurance from my widow’s mite pension. Isn’t this a priority? I blamed the previous Govt for not putting the passed motion with immediate effect. You guys when canvassing stated you would be the Govt for the well-being of Caymanians.
Should have planned for your future and not had children you couldn’t afford. #theresyourplan
My future was planned you heartless, inhumane , insensitive person. I hope you are practicing what you preach and remember one day whoever you are you will join the ranks of Seniors and championing for your Seniors entitlement. That’s simply what I am doing instead of being critical.
These people just want old folks to go off and die, more room then for the foreigners who can have all their cheap ass labor kissing there ass all day while they complain about Caymanians.
So you know what is going ti happen in your future? Did you know the cost of living and prperty would rise so much that young people still living at home, cannot get on property ladder, did you
know there would be a pandemic, did yoy know World Wars would break out, do you know what
happens in a person’s life, let’s hope nothing happens to you to disturb your high chair!
Pompous!
11.09pm Please stop including uner 18’s. We cannot afford them and they’re their parents responsibility.
@11:09pm: Please stop. You should know by now that most of what is passed in parliament takes four to eight years to actually happen. I empathize with your plight, but there is simply no magic wand. You can post about it every day, it will not happen any faster.
I don’t think that a ban on single-use plastics is reasonable. I understand the desire to do so, but consider having your meal served in paper, or having your bread handed to you, bare-handed. I think we should push hard for recycling, and in the interim, re-using our plastic bags, instead of throwing them away. Re-use the things until they are worn out, and you can be certain that it will make a difference, however small and perhaps unmeasurable.
I completely respect the sustainability folk, and agree with their cause. I wish they would focus their efforts upon recycling. There is NO reason why all three islands cannot have full recycling of glass, plastics, and aluminium as a minimum, other that there isn’t a politician’s relative that can make money off it. Yet. It should be government subsidised. Right now.
Fish n Chips in paper with salt n vinegar, yummy!
The English have been enjoying fish and chips in newspaper for decades. It’s brilliant.
Ask for your goat curry in newspaper at fosters … yummee?
Don’t eat goat or curry, yukky!
They stopped that more than a decade ago.
Put it in the compass so u can see where u are going.
I see the direction you are taking there.
‘…or having your bread handed to you, bare-handed.’
Fabulous invention called ‘tongs’…
Yes, I admit that was a tad dramatic, however, do you want your bread handed to you by tongs, and then you put it into a bag of your choice to be handled by nobody as you check out the bakery or market? You see? It is a ridiculous requirement. Better that we reuse those ‘disposable’ bags. You get your bread “tonged” to you and you put it in a reused plastic bag. Of course, you may not be very adept at slicing said bread, but, hey, that’s one you. After all, you thought it was okay to get your bread via tongs. Be well. It’s a great case for baking your own, innit?
What a ‘cloun’ comment from Zodeland.
I’m here all week.
LOL. It’s already in the middle of the ETH Kathy. You and Wayne wasted the last four years doing nothing about it and we have every confidence you will have the same results this time around.
“The average person in Cayman generates about 11lbs of waste each day, more than five times the global average, and a lot of it is plastic.”
If this is true, some analysis should be done to determine why this is the case, and identify how we can, at least, bring the number down to somewhere near the global average.
It is absolutely made up. There is no way for them to have this data. If factually-based at all it is only extrapolated, and it is all but guaranteed that they include all construction materials, waste from huge complexes like Camana Bay, Health City, etc. which artificially inflates and makes the per person rates seem exorbitant.
They can extrapolate from the average weight of the loads of the refuse trucks, and the number of trips. I believe it; I see my neighbor’s heaping pile of garbage bags, and I wonder what the three of them are doing that create such a quantity of trash. Perhaps they buy a lot of fast foods served in polystyrene containers, or quick foods that involve a lot of packaging. Don’t know.
I know that when I drive down the road on garbage day, most of the single-storey homes have a right proper pile of refuse to be picked up.
They can extrapolate from their anus as well. It’s far more plausible.
Exactly what I said: the data doesn’t exist .:. it has to be extrapolated and therefore is an inaccurate guess at best. You trust the data scientists at DOE to be able to provide accurate information on this, yet provide no breakdown on what makes up the piles of waste? No information about how much is construction materials, medical waste, Dart’s lovely little styrofoam blessings, etc?
Feel free to send in an FOI for a breakdown of this information if you think it isn’t made up.
We recycle plastic, aluminum, cardboard/paper, and glass in my household. We donate certain pieces of plastic and sturdy enough corrugated cardboard for use in art projects, etc.. We compost and use it to provide nutrients for our backyard garden. The reality is that at this point most of us are fed up with being made to feel guilty for something that is completely out of our control.
7:57 – Sadly, you’re probably what is referred to as the long tail. More folks here need to follow your lead, but how to get that to happen?
Not sure what point you are making. All packed products are imported. Those items are quantifiable.
Be real. They might be quantifiable, but do you think they are actively quantified?
Quiting booze, meat, and dairy are consumer choices worth considering. These dramatically reduce household waste, kitchen smell, household food and medical costs, GHGE, water and land use, and contribution to factory farm animal misery.
You do you
LOLOLOLOL