As countries throughout the world work to find solutions to the issue of marine plastic pollution, the Government of Japan through Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), is working with several Caribbean countries to help them to understand each other’s challenges and how as a region the problem may be addressed.

JICA has held a number knowledge sharing seminars throughout the year both in person and virtually with the intention of encouraging the participating countries to share their experiences with regards to addressing the plastic challenge.

The most recent exercise involved a three-day familiarization project which took participants to Jamaica to understand the magnitude of that country’s problem and how they are taking steps to address the issue at the levels of Government, Legislative reform, private sector interventions and studies carried out by the Mona UWI Campus.

The seminar also saw presentations from several agencies including the UWI Mona campus which introduced a digitized system of mapping plastic waste in the environment in an effort to effectively implement appropriate interventions. GSWMA was represented by Communications Manager Ms. Myrna Julien, who presented on ongoing actions in Grenada to address plastic waste including legislation and prospects for recycling.