On August 1, we will no longer be able to import plastic and Styrofoam food service containers. On a small island largely invested into food, we need to find alternatives quickly before the next, say, Jounen Kwéyòl. So, what will we import? Plastic has been a cheaper, lighter alternative. Now that it’s non-degradable nature has proven to be one of mankind’s most environmentally-threatening inventions, most of the world (including Saint Lucia) is switching to compostable products, especially for single-use. But food containers made of paper, cardboard and natural fibres such as bagasse need some sort of protection that will enable these products to store food and liquids in the same way as plastic and Styrofoam. Enter the over 4,000 types of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances.
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS or fluorinated compounds) are groups of man-made chemicals that are resistant to water, oil, stains and heat but are also unable to decompose. Since the 1940s, the use and production of PFAS has been widely unregulated. Now they are being called “forever chemicals”. Recent research indicates that long-term exposure to these chemicals is associated with cancer, liver damage, immune system disruption, resistance to vaccines, thyroid disease, impaired fertility and high cholesterol.
According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, PFAS can be found in several places including household products, cooking pots, carpets, water supplies and living organisms. In humans PFAS are ingested into the body when they are absorbed into food through packaging which has the compounds. The chemicals can also be absorbed by plants, crops and water supplies through waste disposal and seepage to ground water.
Countries like the United States have stopped production of PFAS. Denmark and Canada have banned the use and importation of products containing the compounds. Others, like the United Kingdom, have advised consumers to cautiously use products that may contain PFAS and are beginning to phase them out from local markets.
In preparation for our import ban, the Ministry of Sustainable Development says alternatives that will be allowed include bagasse (sugarcane), wheat straw, polyactic acid, paper and cardboard. Importation of compostable products outside the list will be permitted, but the government accounts for no restrictions on fluorinated compounds in its information kit.
Recently, Barbados Today reported: “Ten days into Government’s ban on single-use plastics, the Minister of Small Business, Entrepreneurship and Commerce Dwight Sutherland is expressing serious concern with some of the replacement products coming into Barbados.” The online newspaper stated that the Barbados National Standards Institution had discovered that several of the imported bio-degradable replacement products tested positively for high concentrations of PFAS.
Minister Sutherland was also quoted as saying: “CROSQ —CARICOM Regional Organisation for Standards and Quality—is developing a standard as it relates to these bio-degradable products and I want to compliment them because we can’t just say we are banning plastics and our replacement bio-degradable products have high levels of fluorine, which in effect, poses the same danger as the single-use plastics.”
In Saint Lucia, just two weeks before a scheduled plastic importation ban, it’s a different story. When a STAR reporter approached Minister for Sustainable Development, Gale Rigobert for comment about PFAS, she was unprepared to speak about the matter. Staff at the ministry offered this statement: “The Saint Lucia Bureau of Standards will monitor the import of the alternates with the use of ISO and ASTM standards. The assistance of the Saint Lucia Bureau of Standards and continued monitoring and testing of the alternatives being imported into Saint Lucia will assist us in determining whether the alternatives are high in these chemicals. At this time, alternatives approved by international standards are low in these chemicals. The standards ensure that the biodegradable containers are indeed compostable and safe for the environment and health.”
Barry Fakoory of Trinidad’s VF Packaging is a manufacturer of food service containers. He explained that VF Packaging was interested several years ago in making products from bagasse but discontinued pursuing the idea because of the contentious fluorinated compounds with which bagasse tends to be treated. When the Trinidadian government recently began heavily promoting bagasse and other materials possibly containing PFAS, Fakoory became gravely concerned. He said: “There is no hope of implementing proper standards in our region if a chemical has become so controversial that various states in the US, as well as the US military, have already begun implementing bans, and we in the Caribbean are importing [it].”
As a food packaging manufacturer himself, Fakoory added: “Currently in the Caribbean we have absolutely zero standards when it comes to food packaging, and most companies outside our region would probably prefer we keep it that way.”
Contradicting the statements made to this reporter by the ministry official, Fakoory claimed: “I can confidently say the Caribbean is incapable of properly testing these products for PFAS chemicals. It is quite obvious we are being targeted as a dumping ground due to our lack of regulations and companies.”
Fakoory also professes that when he personally imported certified products, the PFAS results were alarming when he sent them for testing in the US.
While not all compostable materials and not all bagasse contains PFAS, products with high concentration can still be found on the international market. Research done on PFAS has not been widely known and many reports were made available only this year. This research also notes that most humans already have levels of PFAS, given that it is found in so many products.
Food retailers who are PFAS cautious do so of their own accord. That is why Washington State and the mega-retailer Whole Foods Market and the countries mentioned before have taken to independent policies and regulations by implementing tests and then allowing only PFAS-free materials for food packaging.
Shortly before we went to press this reporter met with Director of the Saint Lucia Bureau of Standards, Verne Emmanuel who claims that while our neighbour is rooting out PFAS, there is nothing to signify that Saint Lucia’s supply-chain is compromised. He indicated that the SLBS is currently in the process of developing standards for food packaging and participates through CROSQ in the development of regional standards.
Find Verne Emmanuel’s full statement in next week’s STAR.
