Gov’t offers tax breaks for recycling plants

In a bid to support government’s drive and efforts to sustain and maintain a clean and healthy environment through the provision of proper disposal mechanisms and technology, the Caribbean Containers Inc (CCI) on Saturday launched a line of bio-degradable products called Eco Pak.

The Eco Pak products consist of bio-degradable table wares, including bowls, boxes and cups. President Donald Ramotar while speaking at the launch at the company’s factory at Farm, East Bank Demerara, pledged government’s support toward realising the success of the new environmentally-friendly products.
“I am very happy to associate myself with this activity because of how important I see this whole question of recycling… has become extremely important in our world today and in our country,” the Government Information Agency (GINA) quoted President Ramotar as saying.
The initiative lends support to the country’s Low Carbon Development Strategy, in creating a cleaner and healthier environment for citizens and, against this background, President Ramotar urged that recycling should become a part of the Guyanese culture, changing the ways citizens dispose of their garbage.
He has committed that his administration is ready to use government resources, and give tax-free concessions to persons wishing to invest and set up recycling plants for plastics and Styrofoam. This, he said, will be very helpful in tackling the problem of improper garbage disposal and other materials that could be recycled.
Elaborating on the topic of recycling, President Ramotar said, “only a few weeks ago, I visited the building expo and I saw the great possibilities that we have in using many materials we see as nuisance in our streets and cast all round in our environment and to see things that could be done with them”.
Urging that more businesses should invest in recycling, he said, “People in the business sector should take these opportunities, and I think this would be a business that would grow in the future because when we look around the world, we see that garbage and, not only garbage, but other types of materials growing rapidly,” he explained.
As the economy grows and science and technology improves, other materials would be coming on stream, the president said.
“As you have seen recently, the report from the IMF… the team that has just been here… we are moving very quickly now and the momentum is beginning to pick up and therefore I anticipate that more and more businesses will be looking for new materials and new things to do,” the president said.
In light of this, he said, Guyana would have to find ways and means of removing garbage so that citizens can enjoy a clean and healthy environment.
Natural Resources and Environment Robert Persaud used the opportunity to pledge his support toward the initiative.
“When we launched the “Pick it up” campaign to ensure that our surroundings and environment were clean and to deal with crisis we have in the city with garbage, we looked at the community, individual and business levels to play a part,” Minister Persaud said.
In this regard, he said that CCI was one of the first companies that stepped forward with ideas and initiatives to support government’s drive to sustain a clean and healthy environment.
While elaborating on the potential and future benefits of recycling in Guyana, Minister Persaud urged that consumers need to be more responsible for their actions. “As consumers, you must ensure that the places you purchase from should make available more eco-friendly products… if we are serious and committed about cleaning the environment, we must demand businesses be more eco-friendly and make that statement using our spending power,” Persaud explained.
The Eco Pak products are 100 per cent non-toxic, harmless and healthy. The products are compostable and 100 per cent bio-degradable. The table wares are made from tasteless and health conscious natural fibre, such as sugar cane, straws, reed and other agricultural by-products.
Caribbean Containers Inc Managing Director and newly-elected Private Sector Commission Chairman Ronald Webster, while boasting about the company’s investment, said that the Eco Pak initiative will surely help government in its drive to propagate and sustain a clean and friendly environment.
Some 33 per cent of the garbage being disposed of, he said, is paper-based and therefore, the company will be investing in more equipment to produce other types of biodegradable products from recycled paper in the near future.