The Minister of Environment, Kavi Ramano, announced yesterday that his ministry will organize a two-day seminar from October 18 to 19 to develop a road map to continue to focus on reducing plastic consumption. After the elimination of the use of single-use plastic, it is now to move forward with a new list of plastic products that should be eliminated. The Minister pointed out that plastic pollution in the world has become an issue because its production would reach 1.2 billion tons annually in 2050. In Mauritius, it is estimated that 70,000 tons of plastic waste are sent to technical landfills each year. Only 3000 tons of plastic waste are recycled locally or exported for recycling.
The Minister of Environment, who was joined by the Director of the French Development Agency (AFD), André Pouilles Duplaix, said that Mauritius intends to win the battle of plastic and marine pollution. As mentioned in the government program 2020-2024, the idea is to present Mauritius as a ‘plastic free country’.
Let Minister also presented the results of the feasibility study of solid waste management and planned actions. He said that the cabinet has already taken note of the feasibility study on August 13 on the establishment of regional composting and sorting units on a public-private partnership basis. He pointed out that with the establishment of sorting units and composting plants on a PPP basis, a Transaction Adviser will be recruited to prepare tender documents to invite to operate the regional composting plants and sorting units.
