Single use plastic bags and straws will be banned from Samoa in January next year.
In addition styrofoam food containers and cups will be banned once environmentally friendly options have been identified and are in use.
Replacing plastic bags would be paper bags and reusable cloth bags.
Ulu Bismarck Crawley, Chief Executive Officer, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MNRE) says Samoa is proud to announce the plastic ban “as we enhance our Blue Pacific and join the global fight to restore our ocean and address damage caused by plastic.”
He adds, “This issue is too large for us to sit by without taking any action. By making these changes as a nation, our positive impact will be felt not only by us in Samoa, but also by our global community.”
The ministry said at least 8 million tons of plastics leak into the ocean on an annual basis, with at least 51 trillion micro-plastic particles less than 5mm in diameter already in our ocean.
“Studies now show that fish consumed by humans are ingesting the tiny ocean plastics, with 75% of the world’s tuna landings from Pacific waters and national fish consumption in the Pacific is three to four times the global average, there is cause for concern.”
Statistics from a survey on waste generation and composition which MNRE conducted in 2011 and 2017 were cited to illustrate how much plastics waste is generated in the country.
The studies showed a significant increase in wastes from 26,000 tons per year in 2011 to 32, 850 tons in 2017. This is 20.85% increase of waste generation within a six year period. It is estimated that about 8,869.5 tons of plastic are generated in one year in Samoa.
