ROYAL Solomon Islands Police Force under the Serious Crime Unit had arrested the first shop owner for breaching the Single Use Plastic ban regulation.
Xian Pan Li a Chinese businessman was arrested for using plastic cups and spoon at his restaurant shop at Tandai Highway, West of Honiara.
RSIPF in collaboration with the Ministry of Environment, Climate Change, Disaster Management and Meteorology and other agencies had been doing monitoring of banned plastic items since the banning was imposed in the country last year 2023. In a recent visit this year to shops around town, enforcement officers found that a shop in West Honiara owned by Xian Pan Li is still in possession of banned plastic items.
RSIPF under the Serious Crime Unit arrested Xian Pan Li for one Court of distribution plastic items banned under section 55 of the Environment Act 1998 number 2 and has appeared in court recently.
The defendant has since been released on bail awaiting his appearance in court in December.
Police then said that Xian Pan Li must surrender his passport to the court, must not go beyond Guadalcanal Province boundary and must attend to court whenever police call him.
The matter was put forward in court and the court adjourned the case for December 13th 2024.
Karl Kuper Supervising Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Environment, Climate Change, Disaster Management and Meteorology (MECDM) said the Ministry of Environment praised the RSIPF and other joint enforcement agencies for enforcing this regulation and making the arrest.
“Although we are satisfied with this regulation that resulted in this arrest, there are still some people within the town boundaries and elsewhere who are not complying with the regulation. This arrest sends a clear signal to others that if any shop is still in possession of the banned items they would also be arrested for breaching the regulation”.
Meanwhile, Mr. Kuper stated that this arrest RSIPF has done had clearly indicate that RSIPF and Ministry of Environment with other joint agencies a doing their work in monitoring the city for banned items.
Wendy Beti Chief Environment Officer stated that the Ministry will continue to work together with other agencies with the Police to extend the monitoring activity to other provinces in the Solomon Islands
She also stated that there is need for continuous awareness for communities so that everyone is aware of the ban and the regulation so that if they see or come across any similar case like this, they can directly contact the Ministry or Police for further investigation.
Working together is what we need because our environment is our future, we need to look after it.
The Environment Act 1998 with its Regulation of 2023 under which Single Use Plastics are banned in the country is administered and managed by the Ministry of Environment Climate Disaster management and Meteorology.
Source: Ministry of Environment Climate Change & Disaster Management