The Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme says if nothing is done to stop the use of plastics some projections show there will be more plastic than fish in the ocean by 2050.
A SPREP Pollution Advisor, says Pacific people are more affected by microbead plastics in the marine food chain than other populations.
Microbeads are used as a starting material to form larger plastic objects and are also found in household and cosmetic products, such as toothpaste and body scrubs so are washed down drains.
Anthony Talouli says Pacific people eat four times more fish than the global average and the plastic ingested by fish in the Pacific has been measured at 30 per cent higher than elsewhere.
He told Jenny Meyer a recent proposal by France to ban plastic microbeads in the Pacific is a way of reducing pollutants associated with plastic and Pacific countries have embraced the suggestion.
The uninhabited Henderson Island in the South Pacific
Photo: Jennifer Lavers
Transcript
ANTHONY TALOULI: The SPREP Council or the SPREP Members have made a statement that they are committed towards reducing and in some places banning the microbeads as a form of reducing the marine pollution caused by plastics in our oceans. I think that's a strong commitment. And I think from here we can work towards trying to reduce or ban the single use plastics and also plastic and styrofoam packaging. So the momentum is there, it's a big shift towards that area. We've seen many Pacific Island countries already committed towards this. Marshall Islands for example, earlier on this year they had a legislation that bans single use plastics as well as styrofoam cups and plates. So they've already banned it. And if you go to the Marshall Islands now you will see a huge difference in the way that waste management is done in the Marshall Islands. You will not see a single plastic bag, you will not see a single styrofoam packaging or cups, and it's because they have banned them.
JENNY MEYER: And what can consumers themselves do to get on board with this initiative?
AT: Well I think the consumers where they have bans outright, is that the government has taken the leadership in helping consumers choose and select not to use microbeads and not to use plastic bags, not to use styrofoams. Where they haven't, I think consumers can choose not to use single use plastics, and not to use products that contain microbeads. So I guess that's a voluntary option. What consumers can do is work towards encouraging leadership, encouraging their governments to see how they can put in measures to reduce or outright ban. In Fiji for example they haven't got a legislation that bans but what they have is a legislation that puts in place that retailers can charge consumers for single use plastic bags. And I guess that's in a way causing consumers to make a choice whether they would like to purchase a plastic bag or bring one that they have already used that they can recycle or bring one as an alternative bag. So I guess in a way that's causing the consumer to choose and to voluntarily commit themselves, their friends, their families, their organisations towards reducing and saying no to plastics.
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