A Sneak Peek at Eco-Marketplace Expo 2019

The Eco-Marketplace Expo is taking place at the Biltmore on Wednesday. It’s an event where suppliers of eco-friendly products showcase their goods and services.  The expo is a partnership between Oceana Belize and Caribbean Culture and Lifestyle. This afternoon, we stopped in at the Biltmore for a sneak peek as various participating companies began their preparations. Tanya McNab is the Creative Director of McNab Visuals and Caribbean Culture and Lifestyle.

Tanya McNab, Creative Director, McNab Visuals

“The Eco Marketplace Expo is an opportunity for people who have businesses within the conservation space to be able to exhibit their products and services and for the people of Belize to come out and see what options are available on the market.  I think that sometimes we don’t make a switch or we don’t make a change just because we’re not aware of how to do it or what’s available and how accessible things actually are in Belize now.”

Isani Cayetano

“And what are we expecting in terms of the participating companies and organizations?”

Tanya McNab

Tanya McNab

“Okay, so we have a wide range of different participants who will be here; everything from cleaning solutions, school supplies.  We have plastic straw alternatives, we have food and beverage packaging that is moving away from Styrofoam.  We have energy systems, we have solar panels, we have water systems.  We also have a variety of organizations who will be out here such as Oceana, Audubon, Wildlife Conservation Society, Clearwater Marine Aquarium.  We also have the Department of the Environment who will be here and they will be focusing on the education aspect of what the banning of single-use plastics, what that phase-out will actually look like.  So we’re very happy to have them here because we know that’s something that people are really interested in finding out.  We have everything from lionfish jewellery to hair products, all that is made from sustainably harvested products or by producing sustainably.”