The Minister for Environment Mr Ronny Jumeau has commended the Seychelles Marketing Board (SMB) on its initiative to join hands with the ministries responsible for the environment, education and local government and with the private retail sector to encourage the public to dispose of food packaging in a responsoble way.

The SMB Packaging Disposal Scheme, as it is called, was launched last Saturday by Minister Jumeau himself during the annual Recycling Fair held at the Stad Popiler car park.

The R140,000 scheme will entail the donation of 300 bins to schools, community centres and retails outlets; holding of competitions to keep these schools, centres, shops and their surroundings clean; and maintenance of a related public education and information drive.

The dustbins will not be imported but rather recycled from SMB's juice-concentrated drums that come from overseas.

In this scheme-cum-competition, the contenders will be judged on the general cleanliness and tidiness of their compound, location and upkeeping of bins, mode and frequency of waste disposal, general appearance and image projected by facilities as well as their promotion and awareness initiatives.

Inspectors from the Ministry of Environment will make regular visits at the registered sites and there will be attractive prizes for the winners, such as R5,000-worth of SMB local products, certificates and trophies.

Addressing the audience on Saturday, Minister Jumeau hailed SMB for helping lead the way to a higher level of partnership, shared action and common responsibility.

"This, to borrow from SMB's own well-known motto, will help in building a sustainable future for our beautiful little country," the minister said.

SMB, as the country's biggest single domestic user of food packaging, was committing itself to lending a hand in the clean up of the country and more importantly in the long term, encouraging consumers to adopt new environmentally-friendly habits in disposing of such packaging, Minister Jumeau added.

Minister Jumeau pointed out that the scheme was one of the most innovative in a growing number of business sector initiatives with government, non-governmental organisations and civil society to clean up, protect, promote, enhance and sustainably develop the environment.

He quoted the recent World Summit's Johannesburg Declaration on Sustainable Development, saying "in pursuit of their legitimate activities, the private sector, both large and small companies, have a duty to contribute to the evolution of equitable and sustainable communities and societies."

According to him, the widening business sector involvement in the Clean Up the World and other environment activities, is therefore testimony that here in Seychelles at least, there appears to be a healthy growth in such a sense of corporate duty and responsibility.

"I would therefore like to challenge the business sector not to only adopt cleaner eco-efficient practices and production and promote environmentally friendly consumption, but to also provide more financial, material and technological support to environment and sustainable development initiatives," he said.

On his part SMB's communications manager, Mr Amitesh Banerjee, said that the scheme was in line with Vision number 13 of the government which is "Maintain Seychelles as a world leader in environmentally sustainable development."

He said it was only logical that SMB, which was introducing a range of products on the market, should find an engine that could tackle the environment hazards that came with the packaging of these products.

The sheme-cum-competition begins this month and ends in January.

As for the Recycling Fair, which crowned the Clean Up the World campaign, there were prizes for the best three exhibits in each participating category.

The first prize in the Special Category went to the School for the Exceptional Child whereas Anse Boileau clinched the highest marks in the Primary School category. The Secondary School category was won by Plaisance whilst Mangal Rajah was the outstanding candidate in the Adult category.

Shields, sponsored by Mr Ramu Pillay, were also presented to the long-term sponsors of the Clean Up the World Campaign. The recipients were Land Transport Division, LDR, Fire Brigade and Cleanex Contractor.

Participants who have played active roles in this year's campaign also received certificates in recognition of their work and valued contribution.

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