PNG's capital considers ban on plastic

Transcript

Papau New Guinea's National Capital District is considering a ban on certain plastics in Port Moresby.

The announcement of the plan follows a ban on the sale of betel nut in the capital and the administration's intention to clamp down on alcohol abuse.

The district's governor Powes Parkop told Beverley Tse that addressing plastic litter is part of plans by his administration to clean up the capital and improve people's lifestyles.

POWES PARKOP: Alcohol is a social problem that we are putting on our radar, but we are going this way - betel nut and then the plastic - plastic bottles, plastic bags, plastic coverings. It's a big problem here in our city, where people just dispose of it out their car windows when they go to have lunch or anytime. They just throw it out of the window or leave it in public places. It clogs our drains and waterways then goes down to the foreshore of the sea and also it contributes to environmental problems and affects marine life and so on.

BEVERLEY TSE: So how are you planning to address that issue?

PP: WIth plastic, firstly we'll start with buying plastic bags and plastic bottles and so on. We'll buy and dispose of them. That's something that we didn't want to do, but it seems that we have to do it, so we're putting the money in to buy that. Secondly, I'll be talking to the stakeholders, all the important manufacturers of these plastic bags and bottles and coverings and so on, the rice companies and soft drink companies and the water bottle companies and biscuit companies and so on. I'm meeting with them to see how together we can co-operate and ensure this does not become a problem. Perhaps they will, instead of me, ask if the municipal government can impose a tax. They could put a fee like one toya - New Zealand equivalent of one cent - charge on their products - so we can collect that and clean it up for everyone. So a number of options we are looking at for the interim, we will start buying that plastic and disposing of it in a proper way. Then we'll be looking at alcohol     and the abuse of that substance.

BT: So it seems like you're doing a major sweep of Port Moresby, trying to clean up the capital?

PP: Absolutely. We have a lifestyle change in our city. We've been allowing a low standard of lifestyle to become the dominant lifestyle in our city for too long and we need to clamp down on this so that low lifestyle doesn't become a dominant lifestyle that engulfs the entire city and brings it down.