With lagoons once choked by rubbish, pressure from the appalled community led the government to ban certain single-use products
would pass their time swimming in the local lagoon. Ken Andrew, a local chief, remembers diving in its depths when he was a child, chasing the fish that spawned in its turquoise waters.
While residents were struggling to empty Vanuatu’s waters of plastic, the country’s politicians were considering another solution. Could they stop the waste directly at the source? In the six years since, the results have been impressive. Thin, plastic shopping bags are hardly ever seen, with most shoppers carrying reusable bags at their local market or grocery store. At festivals and outdoor events, food is more often served wrapped in banana leaves instead of polystyrene takeaway boxes. Now-banned items used to make up 35% of Vanuatu’s waste, but now make up less than 2%.The plastic islands that once choked Erakor lagoon are also shrinking.
“It did feel a bit amazing and quite magical too,” Thieffry says. “They were passing on a really strong message that Vanuatu needed to save turtles and fish and not have plastics flying around.”. He was tasked with developing and implementing the policy, which included fines of at least 20,000 vatu for those found flouting the ban – a significant sum for many locals.
“We came up with these ideas to reduce the amount of plastic in Vanuatu,” says the owner Jack Kalsrap. “We’re a small island state, so we know that pollution can really overwhelm us more than in other, bigger countries.” Though plastic bag pollution has reduced since the ban, plastic waste continues to ravage Vanuatu’s environment, and swimming is no longer allowed in Erakor lagoon due to pollution.
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