Congressperson Manuel Iván Fiallos Rodas presented to the Honduran National Congress, a draft law designed to prohibit the use of any plastic material in the Bay Islands, considering it a dangerous pollutant that destroys the coral reef. The Bay Islands of Guanaja, Roatan, and Utila would be affected.
The initiative envisages to allow only the use of biodegradable material, in order to reduce the damage to second largest barrier reef in the world, the Mesoamerican coral reef, which runs along the Bay Islands of Honduras.
Biodegradable packagings are those that have the characteristics to decompose into more basic elements, usually by the action of bacteria, fungi and other simple organisms.
According to statistics cited by Congressman Fiallos, between 60 and 80 percent of the water contamination is from plastics. These, generally speaking, are not biodegradable, and once in the ocean, begin to deteriorate, but never disintegrate completely. Many cases of turtles suffocating on bottle tops have been documented, whales that confuse bags with squid, and birds ingesting small plastic pellets as if they were fish eggs, Fiallos explained.
The congressman stated that tourism would not be affected by this law, as a majority of tourists are European, and they understand the need to preserve life.
One Response to "Plastics May be Banned in Guanaja, Roatan and Utila"
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It is a good idea but unfourtunatley the bigger problem comes from mainland Honduras where the ocean is considered a giant dumpster once in the water it is someones problem somewhere else.Having lived on roatan for 4 years and being on the water almost daily I have seen huge flotsams of trash and it is coming from the mainland not the island