SUVA, July 2 (Xinhua) -- Fijians are urged to take their reusable shopping bags as the government increases the plastic bags levy from 10 Fijian cents to 20 cents (about 4 to 9 U.S. cents) next year in the hope to keep oceans clean.
Shopper Ateca Luvu said while the move by the government would double the cost for Fijians, it should be taken as a positive step towards keeping the environment cleaner.
Luvu said her family had bought market bags and each time they went shopping they remembered to take these bags so they did not have to pay extra for plastics.
"I think the government should keep increasing the levy on plastic bags so people could get used to the idea.
"At the end of the day it is really about helping save our environment," said the 25-year-old mother.
The move is again in a bid to discourage the use of plastics and promote the use of reusable bags in line with the Fijian government's commitment to good environment initiatives and practices.
As announced earlier all funds collected from this levy would be part of the wider environment and climate adaptation levy (ECAL).
It would be used to directly fund environmental initiatives and programs that protect Fiji's natural environment and climate adaptation projects that boost Fiji's resilience to the severe effects of climate change.
A University of the South Pacific (USP) academic said he hoped there would be more levy placed on the use of plastic bags.
Professor Sushil Kumar, who is based at USP's School of Engineering and Physics, attended the Environmental Scientist Network for Asia Pacific Islands last year in Okinawa, Japan, where he witnessed how plastic impacted the environment. He said there should be a levy increase or total ban on the use of plastic bags in Fiji.
"I would recommend that a heavy levy should be placed on plastic bags, either they increase the levy or we completely stop it," Kumar said. "There are other countries where the cost of the plastic bags are high or have been completely stopped."
Fiji's leadership on the preservation of the world's oceans is one of the most important tasks the government has ever undertaken, said Fijian President Jioji Konrote earlier this year.
Konrote said climate change and the health of the oceans were interlinked.
"Let us take more actions on plastics, to build on the government's initiative to put a price on the use of plastic bags by doing more. Do not use plastic bags, plastic straws or non-degradable plastic bottles and containers."
A collection of plastic afloat in the Pacific Ocean is reportedly growing rapidly.
Predictions suggested a build-up of about 80,000 tons of plastic in the "Great Pacific Garbage Patch" between California and Hawaii.
This figure is up to 16 times higher than previously reported, said international researchers.
