Environment Minister Ángel Estévez has called on all supermarket chains to start eliminating the use of plastics, “after tons of trash blanketed on the capital’s coast over the weekend, dragged by a storm’s rains,” underlining that “we are polluting the new generations and this must change.”

He also warned the business sector to reduce the use of plastics, adding, “We must reduce the use of plastics in the Dominican Republic. I am also sending this message to the entrepreneurs, ‘prepare yourselves, because one day you will stop using plastics in the Dominican Republic.’” He stressed that “caring for the environment is not only a matter for the president, the mayors or the ministry; it is a problem for all citizens. If we all contribute, the work will be better executed.”

During a visit to the beach near the Colonial Zone, Estévez also announced that Environment is working to “create a regime of consequences for people who throw trash in the street.”

Since last week, brigades from the Environment Ministry, the National District City Council, and the Dominican Navy, collected trash from the Caribbean coast, mainly plastics, which were washed ashore, coming from Monte Plata and different areas of the Greater Santo Domingo region through the Ozama and Isabela Rivers. According to the authorities’ calculation, the brigades expect to remove 1,600 tons of waste from the shores.

[Excerpts translated by Ivette Romero. For original article (in Spanish), see https://www.diariolibre.com/medioambiente/medio-ambiente-convoca-supermercados-para-comenzar-a-eliminar-uso-de-plasticos-en-el-pais-GE10363577; for article summary (in English), see https://dominicantoday.com/dr/economy/2018/07/17/time-to-eliminate-plastics-environment-tells-supermarkets/. Photo above from Dominican Today.]