Plastic Ban

The ban includes three things.

1. Single use plastic bags: Shopping bags made out of polyethylene less than 35 microns thick. This includes shopping bags that are 100% made from polyethylene as well as shopping bags that are partly made from polyethylene. Examples include:
   • Plastic bags provided by a retailer to a customer at the point of sale. This includes the semi-transparent white plastic bags with handles that are given out at supermarket checkouts as well as the small clear plastic bags that you might see on a roll on the counter of Chinese stores.
   • Plastic bags used to place loose produce or products in before taking them to the point of sale. These smaller clear plastic bags usually come on a roll and are used to package fruit and vegetables, nuts, small hardware, baked goods, hot chips and other takeaway food.
   IMPORTANT NOTE: Shopping bags made out of polyethylene are sometimes labelled or marketed as bioplastic or as being degradable, biodegradable or compostable. The ban does not consider these labels but focuses on what the shopping bags are made of. If they are made in whole or in part of polyethylene they will be captured by the ban.
   
   
2. Polystyrene takeaway boxes: Disposable containers that are closed containers for placing, packing, carrying or storing food that made out of polystyrene and are less than 30cm long. For example, clam-shell polystyrene takeaway boxes.
3. Straws: drinking straws made of plastic that are designed for one-time use.

Since 2015, the Department of Environmental Protection and Conservation has been partnering with the Vanuatu Environmental Science Society to run clean up campaigns in Port Vila. As part of these campaigns, the amount and type of rubbish collected was recorded. These records show that the most common types of rubbish found in the environment are plastic bags and plastic/foam packaging. As research shows that it is not possible to currently make plastics to a standard that ensures they can break down in the open environment, these items pose a threat to the environment and have been included in this initial ban.

Once they are discarded as waste or litter, plastic shopping bags, polystyrene takeaway boxes and straws find their way into the ocean. As the ocean is vital to the livelihoods of Ni-Vanuatu, the Government has developed a vision for the ocean – to conserve and sustain a healthy and wealthy ocean for the people and culture of Vanuatu, today and tomorrow. This vision and the pathway for achieving it are outlined in Vanuatu's National Ocean Policy. Implementing Vanuatu's National Ocean Policy is also an activity under the National Environment Policy and Implementation Plan 2016 – 2030 and Vanuatu 2030 | The People's Plan. Banning plastic shopping bags, polystyrene takeaway boxes and straws will help preserve and protect the marine environment.

If you drop laplap leaves in your garden after you have used them, they will rot down and the goodness inside them will be used again by nature. But if you drop a plastic shopping bag in your garden, you will still find it there in a year or more.

Some plastic shopping bags, polystyrene takeaway boxes and straws and do not break down and will stay intact in the environment for decades. That means a plastic shopping bag you throw away today could still look exactly the same in 10 years.

Other plastic shopping bags, polystyrene takeaway boxes and straws are made with chemicals that help them break down when they are exposed to light or water. These chemicals are added when the plastic is made and mean that the item will break down into smaller and smaller pieces of plastic. In both bases, nature cannot completely break the plastics down. If they stay in one piece or are broken into smaller and smaller pieces of plastic they will eventually end up in the ocean.

Plastics in the ocean can be mistaken for food. For example to a turtle a plastic shopping bag looks like a jellyfish and they try to eat them. But they can't digest them and the plastic can kill the turtle by blocking its intestines. Small pieces of plastic have been found in all different types of marine animals all over the world including in remote places. Ultimately, plastics can end up in the food we eat.

Plastics in the ocean can also smother and entangle marine life. For example, plastic shopping bags can get wrapped around corals and sea birds. Corals need light to create energy and they need to catch small food particles passing by in the current. Plastic shopping bags can stop light and the current getting to the coral and cause it to starve to death.

Before plastics reach the ocean, they can cause problems on land. Plastics lying on the ground reduce the appeal of Vanuatu as a tourist destination. It is not a welcoming sight for tourist arriving in our country to see plastic shopping bags, polystyrene takeaway boxes and straws lining the roads from the airport and the wharf. Plastics can also block drains and waterway which can contribute to flooding.

When the ban starts on 1 July 2018, it will be an offence to:

1. Manufacture, sell, give or otherwise provide plastic shopping bags to other people (this does not include plastic bags that contain or are used to wrap or carry meat or fish as in this case plastic is needed for food safety and hygiene).
2. Manufacture, sell, give or otherwise provide polystyrene takeaway boxes to other people.
3. Manufacture, sell, give or otherwise provide plastic straws to other (this does not include straws that are an integral part of the packaging of a product, for example, a straw attached to milk or juice 'popper' boxes).

For plastic bags, the ban covers shopping bags that are made of polyethylene less than 35 microns thick. This includes shopping bags that are 100% made from polyethylene as well as plastic bags that are partly made from polyethylene. Because it covers thin shopping bags, the ban does not include:

• Plastic and garbage bags, including Port Vila Municipal Council yellow plastic bags, Luganville Municipal Council red plastic bags and other plastic bags used by private waste operators as part of their waste collection services.
• Thick plastic bags such as the heavy duty plastic bags used to package duty free goods or sold as reusable plastic bags. Some clothing stores also use these thicker plastic bags.
• Plastic bags like the ones that chicken wings come in. When you buy a bag of chicken wings, it is already packaged in its own plastic bag. This type of bag is an integral part of the packaging of the product – the chicken wings are sealed in this plastic bag before they are sold. These types of plastic bags are not included in the ban. Other examples of these types of plastic bags include bread bags, biscuits, twisties and plastic bags used to pack vanilla, honey etc.

There are also exemptions for plastic bags used to package meat or fish. However, as it will be an offence to sell or give out plastic shopping bags, businesses that use plastic shopping bags to sell meat or fish will need to import their own supplies or change the type of plastic bags they use. For example, to use thicker plastic bags. Other alternatives are to use plastic sheets or lined paper rather than plastic bags to wrap up meat or fish.

• Local baskets
• Calico bags
• Cardboard boxes
• Paper or cardboard bags
• Reusable plastic bags or thick plastic shopping bags
• Cooler bags

Lots of people use plastic shopping bags as their kitchen rubbish bins, filling up these smaller bags before putting them into a bigger plastic bag for collection. One of the key impacts of the plastic ban will be to change people's behaviour – to think about what plastics we use and whether they are necessary.

Why do you need to use a plastic bag in your kitchen? Is it because food scraps attract flies, because they are messy? Past waste characterisation studies in Vanuatu have shown that most of our rubbish is food scraps that can be composted and put back into the ground. If you compost your food items, you will automatically reduce the amount of rubbish you produce and the amount of plastic you will need to use. Do you have a compost heap or compost bin? Could you have one at your house?

Once you remove the compostable material, most of your rubbish will be food packaging. You can use this packaging to hold your rubbish. For example, empty rice bags, empty bread bags, empty chip packets, empty milk cartons etc.

You could also consider lining a bucket or rubbish bin with newspaper or scrap paper to keep it clean. Buckets and bins with a lid will help keep the flies away and contain any smells.

• Cardboard or bamboo boxes such as those used at the Pacific Mini Games
• Thick plastic takeaway boxes that are strong enough to be reused
• Reusable plastic boxes.

• Metal straws – these straws are usually made out of stainless steel (just like forks and spoons) and come with their own cleaning brush
• Paper straws
• Pawpaw, bamboo etc. straws
• No straw – drink direct from the glass, bottle etc.

To help change our behaviour, the Government has introduced penalties for manufacturing, selling, giving or otherwise providing plastic shopping bags, polystyrene takeaway boxes and straws.

Individuals caught manufacturing one of these banned items may be issued a fine for 50,000 vatu for a first offence or 80,000 vatu for a subsequent offence. Corporations caught manufacturing one of these banned items may be issued a fine for 100,000 vatu for a first offence or 200,000 for a subsequent offence.

Individuals caught selling, giving or otherwise providing plastic shopping bags, polystyrene takeaway boxes and straws may be issued a fine for 20,000 vatu for a first offence or 50,000 vatu for a subsequent offence. Corporations caught selling, giving or otherwise providing one of these banned items may be issued a fine for 50,000 vatu for a first offence or 100,000 vatu for a subsequent offence.

These fines are not the only enforcement avenues available to the Government. If warranted, the court could impose a penalty of up to 500,000 vatu and/or three months imprisonment for an individual or 1,000,000 vatu for a corporation.

To avoid these penalties, if your business uses plastic shopping bags, polystyrene takeaway boxes or straws you should try and use your stock before 1 July 2018. Any stock remaining on 1 July 2018 will not be able to be sold or given out and you will need to dispose of them properly through your garbage collection service. You must not burn any leftover stock. Burning plastic is dangerous to your health and the health of the environment as it releases toxic chemicals.

Stores that currently sell plastic shopping bags, polystyrene takeaway boxes or straws generally order their stock in advance. Starting the ban on 1 July gives these businesses time to use up their current stock before the ban commences. Raising awareness about the ban now also gives retailers time to find and order alternative products.

Banning the manufacture, sale and giving out of plastic shopping bags, polystyrene takeaway boxes and straws is just part of the solution. Part of the problem with plastics is how we dispose of them. If we don't dispose of our rubbish in the right place, it ends up in the environment.

To help change our behaviour, the Government has introduced penalties for littering – depositing litter or waste in a public place. Persons caught littering may be issued a fine for 5,000 vatu for a first offence or 10,000 vatu for a subsequent offence. These fines are not the only enforcement avenues available to the Government. If warranted, the court could impose a penalty of up to 500,000 vatu for an individual or 1,000,000 vatu for a corporation.

The Government is also working with other partners to develop education materials to raise awareness about plastic pollution as well as waste and pollution more generally.