Legislation to ban SUPs expected to be tabled this year
Legislation banning single-use plastics should come to MPs’ attention before the end of the year, the home affairs minister said.
According to Walter Roban, a paper is being prepared to present to Cabinet before the end of the summer “and we’ll be able to begin the process of the initial phases of the elimination of single-use plastic”.
The Government's intention to ban SUPs was first announced in the 2018 Speech from the Throne, which said that they would be eliminated by 2022.
Since then the initiative appears to have stalled and Beyond Plastic Bermuda, an umbrella environmental group, urged the Government to pass the legislation.
Mr Roban disagreed that legislation had stalled and said: “We have taken a deliberate consultative process.
“This process started with us wanting to engage with the industry and the stakeholders who will be directly impacted by a single-use plastic ban, so we’ve taken time to have dialogue with the commercial community around this,” the minister said.
He added: “We also know that the market is still devising solutions to single-use plastic usage … unnecessary single-use plastic usage.
“There are some single-use plastics which are still essential, such as medical products or products used to handle meat and perishable goods that are going be more difficult over time to get rid of.
“The stuff that can be dealt with, we will deal with.”
Mr Roban said the paper “will be taken to the Cabinet within a short period of time” and he hoped to bring legislation “before the end of the year”.
“That’s what I’m working towards,” he added.
The Government is waiting for more information from Caricom before it can take the next steps towards full membership in the organisation.
A consultation process that would lead towards the move was first announced in the Throne Speech last year. Subsequently the Government received a letter of entrustment from Britain allowing it to proceed with talks.
The home affairs minister, Walter Roban, and the Premier, David Burt, later had informal discussions with Caricom's Secretary-General.
In May, Mr Roban said, Caricom heads of government met when they “blessed Bermuda’s interest in full membership” and there was meant to be another Caricom meeting, which was postponed owing to Hurricane Beryl.
Mr Roban said he was waiting for some information from Caricom after submitting the entrustment letter and it had been hoped that talks would be held at that meeting.
He explained: "It was my intention to have discussions directly with the Caricom leadership, particularly with the Secretary-General, to get what I require."
Mr Roban announced recently that he will step down from politics at the next General Election and it was put to him that, as well as SUPs, there were other issues still not resolved, such as the Bermuda Ocean Prosperity Plan, which has been fiercely opposed by fishermen.
Asked if Bermuda would see BOPP finalised before he left office, the minister said: “Yes. I expect that legislation to be passed before the end of the year.”
On the protests from fishermen, the minister added: “There are 300 fishermen. There are thousands of people who contributed to the plan.
“The majority of the public supports the BOPP plan. So I respect their [the fishermen’s] position. But they certainly don’t make up the majority of participants who have a stake in this.
“They are one particular stakeholder group, but there are many and everyone else has been constructively engaged and supportive of the plan.”
The BOPP was originally approved in 2019 in a tripartite agreement between the Government, the Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences and the Waitt Institute.
It comprises two parts that aim to work in tandem: the Marine Spatial Plan and the Blue Economy Strategy.
In addition, the Bermuda Ocean Prosperity Fund, which is dedicated to blue economy industries, is seeking to raise tens of millions of dollars to support Bermudians in the field.
“That will fund expansion of fisheries, it will fund more conservation protection, it will fund blue tourism, renewable energy and other types of interesting entrepreneurial opportunities,” Mr Roban said.
“So, as I have said repeatedly, despite the, perhaps, views of one group, this plan is about replenishment.
“I’m convinced that, over time, the Bermuda Ocean Prosperity Plan will show itself to have been successful for Bermuda, even for our fishing industry.”
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