Transcript
The co-founder of NoPlastikBagPlis Christelle Thieffry says government support for the campaign was immediate, and they should be commended for it.
But she says even she and husband and co-founder Georges Cumbo were surprised at the speed of their response.
"When we started with the Facebook page in March 2017, we did not expect things to go that quickly. We did not expect the prime minister to announce on independence day last year, 30 July last year, that the government was going to ban single use plastics."
Ms Thieffry says the ban which came into effect on the 1st of July has had the added bonus of stimulating the local economy.
She says the absence of the once ubiquitous plastic bag has local entrepreneurs filling the void.
"For about the last two months, the mamas at the market are only selling reusable bags and also Vanuatu is well known for the weave bags, made of pandanus. There's definitely a market being developed there with mamas coming with new shape of bags to buy and re-use. So that's quite interesting to see that potential economy being developed."
While the full ban started this month, the importation of these plastics was halted in January to give the country time to adapt.
Christelle Thieffry says the foreign minister Ralph Regenvanu has been instrumental in managing the process and has been supportive of fundraising events.
Mr Regenvanu says the ban is part of the greater National Oceans Policy.
"These three items were the lowest hanging fruit, so to speak, and now we'll go for other single use plastic as well including packaging and various other utensils, that kind of thing. Plastic bottles."
He says this will run in conjunction with a national audit on plastic use and origin to determine ways of reducing their use, including recycling and alternative materials.
Mr Regenvanu says the ultimate goal is to eliminate all single-use plastics going into the ocean.
"There's going to be a number of options. There are some items we can obviously ban outright like we did with the three items we just banned. But then of course there's options for container return, return and deposit schemes. That's seems to be something that is very successful in other jurisdictions. Having a levy which is charged and then people get given a refund for the return of a particular item."
One of the local bottling companies Azure Pure has been behind this system.
A partner in the business Yael Sakker says they took over the company in 2016 knowing that plastic waste was an issue and in 2017 they started the new initiative.
"We launched our 'Give me 5' bottle rebate and recycling programme, which aimed to give a 5 vatu per bottle rebate for all our products we manufacture here at Azure Pure Water."
Ms Sakker says the 5 vatu rebate for returning their empty bottles has been so successful they've looked to broaden the programme.
At the end of 2017 discussions started with World Vision Vanuatu.
"They were excited by what we were doing with 'Give me 5' and were very keen to see how they could help us to expand the programme to potentially include other types of plastic and encourage other manufacturers and importers to get on board."
Yael Sakker says in February this year they entered into a partnership to look at reinventing the economics of plastic recycling in Vanuatu.
The new initiative is known as Pem Plastik.
"For local manufacturers and importers who contribute to the scheme, their products receive a 5 vatu per bottle or container rebate, and for all others, at the moment World Vision is covering a 1 vatu per bottle or container rebate."
She says Azure Pure Water was involved with the government working group on the implementation of the current ban and says anything further that can be done to limit plastic imports and encourage local manufacture is a good thing for Vanuatu.
Minister Ralph Regenvanu says part of the next stage will be to introduce a levy on all imported plastic water bottles.
The couple who started the NoPlastikBagPlis campaign aim to keep up the momentum says co-founder Christelle Thiefry.
"We are now going to create a foundation, an association, here in Vanuatu and I guess the next target for us is to definitely cut down on plastic caps, plastic cutlery and reducing the use of plastic bottles as much as possible."
Vanuatu, along with the United Kingdom, is a co-champion of the Marine Plastic Initiative as part of the Commonwealth's Clean Oceans Alliance.
The country aims to be a model in the region and the world for marine environmental innovation.
