Recycling seen as answer to plastic rubbish

THE Government should look at building recycling facilities to utilise plastic wastes as part of its long-term solution to address plastic pollution, a former recycler says.
Colorpak Limited group general manager Srinivasan Santhosh said Colorpak used to buy about 25 tonnes of plastic waste every year and provide economic opportunities to people living in Lae.
“Unfortunately our factory was burned (in May 2014) and since then we have stopped buying waste plastics.
“If the government can for the long-term come up with a proposal to build recycling facilities in the country, especially in Lae through partnership with the industries, I think we will be able to better manage plastic waste by recycling and at the same time provide (work and ) money for the youth who are roaming aimlessly in the city creating social problems,” Santhosh said.
He said the decision by the government to ban plastic shopping bags was in the interest of protecting the people and the environment and it should be done properly rather than a one-step approach which will not be good for the country in the immediate term as well as the long-term.
“It needs wider consultation and proper planning to address this issue of plastic waste because plastic waste is not just about plastic shopping bags but a range of it.
“Like the packets of other goods on the shelves in the markets, the plastic bottles and many more plastic products which are disposed into the environment and the river systems,” Santhosh said.