Jamaica Moving to Increase Plastic Bottle Recycling

KINGSTON, Jamaica – Jamaica's government says it will be focusing on a Deposit Refund Scheme, backed by legislation, for plastic bottles,  Minister without Portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, Senator Matthew Samuda, has said.

Samuda said the scheme aims to increase the percentage of plastic bottles collected for recycling.

“This statement in no way diminishes the efforts of the plastic manufacturers by way of the Jamaica Recycling Partners initiative, or that of any of the other recycling companies currently operating in Jamaica. Their efforts are to be acknowledged and congratulated,” he said.

He said however, that the results of the noble effort are not in line with the country’s national targets of approximately 60 percent.

“My information is that less than 20 percent of newly produced bottles are collected for recycling. The USA nationally is only at about nine percent, so our ambition cannot be based solely on what others do, it has to be based on what best practices are available for us to achieve our national ambitions, and our target needs to be above 60 percent.

“We will ask, over time, as we build out this system, to get formal declaration of this target in the way we have formal targets for protected areas. We need formal targets on how we manage our waste… but that will take some time,” Samuda told legislators over the last weekend.

He said the government will be working with all stakeholders, including the Opposition, “as we develop the policy, legislation and operational ways”, pointing out that plastic bottles represent approximately 13 percent of the Jamaican waste stream.

Samuda said although plastic bottles are not banned at this stage, given the current unstable geopolitical environment, they do require and deserve a significant focus from the government.

“In the current unstable geopolitical environment, glass bottles are simply not available in the quantities required by our market. Several of our manufacturers who use glass, who have long-term buying relationships, are struggling to keep pace with current demand. That means, quite frankly, that at this stage, plastic bottles are not banable,” he said.

Samuda said the government will re-engage the public to remind persons of the ban on some plastics and the environmental implications.