Caribbean & Central America - January 2024

The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), an international organisation headquartered in Switzerland, has published economic assessments of proposals to reduce plastics pollution in Antigua and Barbuda, Grenada, and St Lucia. The assessments are part of a wider project called Plastic Waste Free Islands (PWFI).

Plastic waste pollution is a global problem with particularly severe impacts in the Caribbean. Globally some 400m tonnes of plastic waste are produced every year.  About 85% of single-use food and beverage containers end up in landfills and are leaked into the sea. Microplastic fragments have been found throughout island and marine habitats. Single-use plastics and polystyrene account for around 80% of all Caribbean marine litter. The IUCN economic assessments, the summaries of which were made available in late October, found that this pollution has a significant negative effect on a range of economic sectors in the Caribbean, including tourism and fishing, aquaculture, and transport. The IUCN estimated that in Antigua and Barbuda’s fishing sector alone, losses caused by marine pollution amount to around 9.2% of total revenues. 

The IUCN highlights a series of steps that can be taken to try and reduce plastics pollution. The Antigua and Barbuda government has increased taxation on imported plastic cans and bottles and banned the use of plastic shopping bags and Styrofoam.  It is also seeking to encourage a nascent recycling sector. IUCN supports the development of national and regional recycling strategies.

Plastic pollution

In a separate US$42m initiative supported by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and launched in August 2023, the governments of Colombia, Jamaica, and Panama agreed to collaborate to reduce plastic pollution from coastal and urban environments. This project aims to increase “circularity” the use of recycled materials. It is estimated that the global economy is only 7.2% circular. The UNEP project aims to reduce the use of unnecessary and toxic plastics, end the burning of plastic waste, and investigate “new circular business models”.