THE Environment & Conservation division (ECD) is taking the use of less than 1.5L plastic water bottles, an item banned under the Environment Single Use Plastic Ban Regulation 2023 at the recent Miss Pacific Islands Pageant (MPIP) seriously.
This is after members of the public has questioned the use of above items in light of the Government’s ban on this item.
The less than 1.5L plastic water bottles have been distributed to VIP guests during the Occasions in direct violation of the government’s regulations.
Director of the Environment and Conservation Division; Josef Hurutarau said that the Joint Enforcement Team/Committee was alerted and are now doing their work to investigate the matter.
He said as part of the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for enforcing this regulation; enforcement stakeholders together with police has launched an investigation into how plastic water bottles ended up for use during the recent 2025 Miss Pacific Islands Pageant (MPIP).
“We hope that this would lead us to identify those responsible and also hold them accountable”
Section 4 of the Single Use Plastic Banned Regulation 2023 prohibits the importation, manufacture, distribution, supply and sell of this plastic product in question.
Any person contravening these, commits an offence and faces a Maximum penalty for a natural person of 50 000 penalty units or 2 years imprisonment or both and for a corporate body, 100 000 penalty units or 3 years imprisonment or both.
A key partner in the enforcement of the Regulation, Honiara City Council (HCC) has thrown its support behind the investigation.
In a statement Honiara city Mayor Mr. Edwin Siapu said, “the Public has already witnessed the use of small plastic water bottles during the MPIP therefore the right thing must be done. And under my leadership, we are not aware of who authorized the use of small plastic bottles but those reliable must be penalised”
As the responsible Government Ministry, the Ministry of Environment, Climate Change Disaster, Management & Meteorology under Environment and Conservation Division in collaboration with the police, HCC and other partners are now investigation the matter to ensure those responsible be held accountable.
Source: MECDM Press