A committee has been established to work towards recycling plastics as a means of coping with the estimated 500,000 bottles discarded each month here and the enormous environmental problem this poses.
This came out of the two-day seminar, which ended yesterday, organised by the Guyana Training Agency (GTA) with the aim of setting up a national recovery system for plastics in Guyana.
GTA hosted the forum following an initiative by beverage company Demerara Distillers Ltd (DDL).
The committee comprises Rufus Lewis, Georgetown City Council; Robert Sugdeo, Banks DIH Ltd; Puran Persaud, Ministry of Local Government; Emerson Brandford, Consumer Movement of Guyana; Eileen Cox, Guyana Consumers Association; and Maurice Walker, Georgetown City Council.
Dr Heino Vest, who facilitated the workshop, stated that it was concluded that recycling plastics was the best option for Guyana. He pointed out that the material's price was not sufficient to pay for the recycling effort so other sources of finance would have to be raised.
One way of obtaining the finance was to institute a levy on every bottle purchased by a customer, he stated. The levy would go back to the beverage company, which would channel the funds to the body established to deal with the recycling. "This would be used to assist and implement the recycling facilities but the question is who will organise and supervise the programme?"
Dr Vest felt this could be done through a non-profit organisation representing all the stakeholders, particularly those from the beverage industry, a non-governmental organisation, and government bodies or private entrepreneurs. The organisation would be tasked with creating an economic environment which would make recycling feasible. The system would involve small entrepreneurs who go around collecting bottles, sorting, cleaning, shredding and selling the product.
The organisation would set up a central buy-back centre for used plastic bottles. It would promote regional buy-back centres and organise the transport of the bottles.
A central processing plant would have to be set up and the operation and marketing of private processing plants promoted.
Dr Vest alluded to a similar project in southern Africa called "Collect a Can" which created 37,000 jobs.
The facilitator said the committee was given until the end of May to chart a way forward for the process. "The seminar set out to create motivation for doing something in the sector. I felt all the participants were enthusiastic and hope this would be followed by practical implementation," he said.
Dr Vest noted that plastic itself was not dangerous to the environment but pointed out that it "stays forever and builds up. It's harmless but there is no outlet for it," he said.
He stated that plastic took up a lot of space in landfill sites which were costly to establish.
He added that the environmental impact of plastic bottles waste inclu
ded pollution of the soil and coastal areas and the untidy appearance of scattered waste.
Dr Vest said that for plastic to be burnt an incinerator would have to be used and he ruled this out for Guyana since the country did not have such a facility.
He remarked that recycling would save fossil fuel since it took two litres of crude oil to produce one kilogramme of plastic. The recyclable material could be used for polyester fibres - employed in making carpets, clothes or filling fibres in jackets - or for making new bottles.
Markets are available in Canada, the United States and Venezuela for recycled material, he said, and noted that a local entrepreneur was already selling to an intermediate merchant in Trinidad and Tobago.
At the seminar, beverage firm Banks DIH Ltd stated that the company was using plastic for packaging soft drinks, rum and water and was considering including wine and cream liqueur for this type of packaging.
Banks has contracted an entrepreneur to shred its damaged plastic crates, amounting to some 145,000, and to compress them before export. This is also how the company gets rid of rejects from the bottling plant. Banks uses an average of 260,000 plastic bottles per month for its production and 90,000 plastic crates.
The other major beverage company in Guyana, DDL, has been using plastic for packaging over the past five years. DDL has installed a machine to produce the bottles using injection moulding. The company shreds in-house rejects and uses the material for land filling purposes on its premises and on the landfill site at Eccles.