B.T.I.A. challenges businesses to stop using polystyrene
And in news on the environment, expanded polystyrene foam, mistakenly known as Styrofoam, has been in existence since the 1940s… but while the containers produced with the material are handy, they are not necessarily environmentally friendly. The by-products do not break down and are not easy to recycle. That, along with its proliferation, has prompted various environmental agencies worldwide to put a ban on the material. In Belize, the Belize Tourism Industry Association is the latest group to join that bandwagon. This week, the B.T.I.A. issued a press release challenging its employees and six hundred plus members to eliminate polystyrene use in Belize. According to Executive Director, Nicole Solano, their staff is already taking action.
Nicole Solano, Executive Dir., B.T.I.A.
“It came up at our board level where somebody made the suggestion that B.T.I.A. really should push this, should challenge the staff. I brought it back immediately to our staff and they were immediately enthusiastic about it. They said, you know what? We order lunch everyday, we get Styrofoam, let’s just cut that out. Everybody brought heir plastic containers, put their names on it, sent it to the vendor. The vendor comes in the morning and takes the order so instead of bringing it back in a Styrofoam box, they bring it back to the staff in the container. So it’s really a simple thing that we’ve done, it’s not a big project, it’s something that we’ve done internally that we hope will make a big difference. All we are doing is asking members to make a small change and hopefully that small change will make a big difference for Belize in general. There definitely are members that are doing it, but since we sent out the press release a lot of people have said great idea, we’re very happy about that, we haven’t been doing it but we will. For those that have been doing it for a long time quietly, we applaud them, we thank them, we thank them for urging us to do it. I think, like I said, a lot of people know thy have to do it but they’re not really doing it so now we’re at that place where we’re challenging our selves and our members to just do that so that at some point we can look further and look at the bigger picture and see if there is anything we can do to completely eliminate Styrofoam use in Belize because we are an ecotourism destination as well as we have to be serious in that regard.”
For those who are looking to become environmentally conscious, a local company called Eco-friendly Solutions does offer a line of biodegradable containers, some of which can be found in large supermarkets at a price comparable to plastics and Styrofoam.
