St. Eustatius – The Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management of The Netherlands has committed to assist St. Eustatius with the banning of single use plastics. This was agreed upon on Tuesday July 16th, when a declaration of intent was signed between the State Secretary for Infrastructure and Water Management, Stientje van Veldhoven and the Public Entity St. Eustatius, represented by Government Commissioner, Marcolino Franco.
The signing of this declaration of intent will be followed by a plan of action of the Public Entity St. Eustatius that will result in reducing the use of diverse types of plastics commonly used on St. Eustatius; plastic bags, cups, straws, cutlery and Styrofoam food containers. With the support of the Ministry, the Public Entity St. Eustatius will draft a plan of action for implementation starting already in the final quarter of 2019. The Ministry of Infrastructure will assist the island further by making euros 40.000 available for the drafting and execution of the plan.
“While the Public Entity will lead the process broad stakeholder participation will be needed to ensure an integral and sustainable approach. As an island that promotes dive, eco and sustainable tourism we have the responsibility to get it right. We should no longer promote the use of single use plastics that are a proven threat to for example our marine environment and by extension our very own existence”, says Government Commissioner, Marcolino Franco.
