Banned-aid needed
Published:Saturday | February 9, 2019 | 12:00 AM
THE EDITOR, Sir:
The single-use scandal bag ban policy is a good one, butit has left the problem of consumers having to either take their own bag or bags with them to commercial retail outlets, buy bags from those stores to accommodate their bought goods, or do without.
It seems to me that enough planning and preparation were not done by the Government, in collaboration with the private sector, to fill the scandal bag void that would occur, between the official announcement of the ban and the actual date on which the ban would begin. Now, as a result, a major fallout has occurred in the local retail sector, which has resulted in a crisis of sorts.
Should Government not have, first and foremost, ensured, before January 1, 2019, that a local bag manufacturing plant and/or a local distribution company were in place to produce/import suitable, environmentally friendly bags, which would be readily available to the local marketplace, in order to replace the environmentally unfriendly scandal bags?
The goal of improving Jamaica’s environment is a responsible, respectable and important one, but far more should have and could have been done by the Government, in order to cushion the blow on consumers from the single-use scandal bag ban and, in particular, at supermarkets.
PATRICK GALLIMORE