September 17, 2009
Dear Editor,
We are all familiar from childhood with the story of David and Goliath, but the recent tabling of the Returnable Containers Bill in the House has me wondering, not for the first time, if the story would have had the same ending if the two men had lived in Belize.
The bill is, on the surface, a bill being passed to protect our environment. It does so poorly, not even halfheartedly attacking the issue. After all, it is plastic and styrofoam that carpet our landscape, but these items are not mentioned anywhere, and instead, the primary item under attack, the offending pollutant here, is glass bottles.
Glass bottles are reused, ad infinitum, by the smaller producers of our society. They are a cheap source of packaging in an increasingly expensive world, and they enable our grassroots income earners to earn a few cents more than they might if they had to buy brand-new packaging for their products. These products include: hops, seaweed, coconut oil, juices, honey, varnish, thinners and other chemicals, vitamin tonics, rum, and so much more.
But unfortunately for all these small producers, they will become unwitting victims of a partnership between a government that should be looking out for their best interests and a local producer who, after 38 years of protection, is unreasonably afraid of legitimate competition.
That local producer has, in 38 years, outlived Charger beer, Crown beer, Pepsi (twice) and 7-Up, and yet manages to feel intimidated by two small importers who haven’t the resources to mount any serious challenge.
What happens to a local economy when one large and powerful producer is protected at the expense of innumerable small ones? Would David have survived against Goliath’s onslaughts if the battle had been set in Belize?
Let us look at this bill differently. Redraft it using the Barbados version in its entirety, encourage a recycling facility to begin operations by charging a realistic deposit fee (Barbados charges less than is proposed in our legislation) so that the recycler can afford to buy the products while people are encouraged to sell them to him, and let’s encourage everyone along the supply chain to do their part for the environment.
As it stands in current draft, the legislation is just a way to protect a man who, after 38 years of protection, needs no more protecting.
(Signed), but name withheld on request