An online petition has been made, calling on Premier and Minister of Finance Dr The Honourable D Orlando Smith (AL) to ban the use of plastic straws and Styrofoam containers in the territory. Photo: Internet Source

The petition, started since May 2017, has so far garnered 429 supporters and seeks to reach 500. Photo: change.org

The petition was started by Jane Tyrell and is currently on the BVI Community Board on Facebook as a repost by one Jungle Jane. "With the world gaining traction on the awareness of how detrimental plastic is on our environment I thought I would repost this and hope to get some more signatures. Please sign and share. Thanks."

The petition is being done through ‘change.org’ which says that there is too much pollution on these beautiful islands and in our seas surrounding them. "It's time to take action and ban all plastic drink straws and all Styrofoam containers (food and drink) from the British Virgin Islands. If other countries can implement similar bans, surely we can too! We are responsible for keeping our world clean and safe and this is one small and easy step we can take…"

The petition, started since May 2017, has so far garnered 429 supporters and seeks to reach 500.

Many persons on Facebook have commented in favour of the petition.

Eliminate them all together

Judy Petz commented, "If you do have plastic bottles or containers, the island now has recycling for plastic and glass. Main place is at the college. There is a bin at Nanny Cay near the dumpster. We need more places and support from everyone.

We were just shopping at Riteway, in addition to making you pay for a plastic bag it is going to eliminate them all together! Every person needs to do their part. 

Even to pay a little more for take-out in biodegradable containers. We have enforced this at the BVI Spring Regatta for all our food vendors for years. Takeaway and cutlery. Pay a little more now, or our future generations will," Petz wrote.

This is not the first call on government to take stern action against the use of plastic straws but there have been calls for a ban on shopping bags and Styrofoam food containers, which may pose a danger to the environment.

Back In 2015 when he was a talk show host, Richard C. deCastro, who was always one to speak passionately about littering, had challenged Government to impose a system that charges more on plastic bottles, citing that littering must be curbed to save not only the environment but the face of the territory as a tourism destination.

Just last year this news site carried an article which spoke to the health risk of Styrofoam boxes after the US Department of Health and Human services added styrene to a list of possible carcinogens or substances capable of causing cancer in living tissues

“This is something I seriously think the government should debate and implement. Just like USVI now ban plastic bags, we took a stand on that some time back but supermarkets back with it, but more seriously we should look at stopping the use of Styrofoam starting with restaurants first,” Mary L. Georges wrote.

Persons have previously argued that a ban on drinking straws and plastic bottles would be a boon for fish and help limit children's exposure to the chemicals found in plastic.