Dutch start-up launches “plastic-waste-free islands” initiative

Searious Business, a Dutch start-up with the mission to reduce plastics waste, has joined forces with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) to bring about Plastic-Waste-Free Islands across a number of geographical regions.
 
With a target timeline of two years to turn the islands “virtually waste-free”, the initiative will look to develop effective strategies through collaboration with the island nations of St Lucia, Antigua & Barbuda, Grenada, Fiji, Vanuatu and Samoa.
 
The partnership has received support and €6m in funding from the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD).
 
For the initiative to have a major impact, the collaborating partners will work with local fisheries, governments, waste processing companies and representatives of the tourism sector to draw up an action plan.
 
Effective strategies will differ from island to island, but some ideas include handing tourists a refillable bottle with easy ways to refill or to replace toiletry mini bottles in hotels and spas with dispensers.
 
“In this way, we intend to reduce plastic waste by 80%," said Willemijn Peeters, CEO of Searious Business, who emphasised the importance of a value chain designed to be waste-free for this initiative.
 
With increasing number of tourists who consume imported packed food and drinks, these idyllic islands often lack sufficient waste infrastructure and space. This causes 90% of plastic waste to end up in the environment, according to Peeters.
 
“The use of disposable plastic is growing whilst the processing industry doesn’t invest in islands because they can’t realise economies of scale. We want to prevent islands from turning into major landfills in the future," he added.
 
Successful processes developed through the partnership can be implemented in other islands or even on the mainland.
 
Peeters: “Islands represent a closed economy on a small scale, so you can quite accurately determine the consequences of systemic changes. Best practices can ultimately also be applied on the mainland.”