The Environmental Community Health Organisation (ECHO) has petitioned the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Private Sector and the Consumers’ Association of Guyana to support its campaign to ban free plastic bags given at shopping centres countrywide.
In a press release, ECHO says that if members of the public are made to purchase these plastic bags, they would be more vigilant in how they use and discard them, thereby reducing littering and pollution. ECHO said it is concerned that some citizens use plastic bags once, then discard them into the environment when plastic is not biodegradable. Often, they end up clogging drains and canals and if they are burnt, they release toxic fumes into the air.
ECHO says the current garbage crises in the city and indiscipline demonstrated by some persons with regard to disposing of refuse reveal an excessive use of plastic bags. It contends that a ban on free plastic bags could arrest this situation and as such it is lobbying for support for its goal of banning free plastic bags countrywide.
