Plastic Free St. Kitts: Be a solution to plastic pollution, advises Sustainable Destination Council

BASSETERRE, ST. KITTS, July 1, 2022 (MMS-SKN) — The St. Kitts Sustainable Destination Council (SDC) is passionately calling on citizens and residents to be a solution to plastic pollution as the island observes ‘St. Kitts Plastic Free July (PFJ) 2022’ under the theme ‘Be part of the solution – help end plastic pollution’.

The call was made on Friday, July 1, when members of the St. Kitts Sustainable Destination Council led by their Chair, Mrs Diannille Taylor-Williams, gathered on Kim Collins Highway at the airport roundabout to unveil a billboard inviting all to be the solution to plastic pollution.

Ms Taylor-Williams, who was accompanied by Sustainable Tourism Coordinator in the St. Kitts Ministry of Tourism, Mr Kenney Manning, and member Mrs Shaline Lewis, were joined by Project Manager at Tapp Water Caribbean, Mr Chris Stichnothe, whose company sponsored the billboard.

“Here we are, 1st of July, 2022, another year promoting a plastic free St. Kitts, and its Plastic Free July,” said Mrs Taylor-Williams. “We have partnered with one of our St. Kitts Sustainable Destination Council members, Tapp Water Caribbean and Espo Water Solution to unveil this sign which tells us about being plastic free.”

Citizens and residents were encouraged to be a part of the solution by doing different things, including using less water bottles, using reusable bags as opposed to plastic bags that are offered at supermarkets and other business outlets, and skipping the use of plastic straws. She pointed out that those are the things the Sustainable Destination Council has planned to do as they educate the public on how to reduce plastic pollution.  

“We the members of the SDC invite you to be a solution to plastic pollution,” they said in unison, as they posed in front to the new billboard

Meanwhile, Tapp Water Caribbean Project Manager, Mr Chris Stichnothe, introduced two of his company’s products that are portrayed on the billboard, the Tapp Ultra filter, and the Tapp PitcherPro filter.

“These are two of our products here,” said Mr Stichnothe. “The Tapp Ultra filter, which saves you a lot of money incurred by bottled water, is attached directly to the faucet and each filter provides 3,000 litres of purified water. This is saving the environment from all the use of single-use plastic, as it takes out fluoride, lead, and microplastics from the water coming through the tap, which is the subject for the Plastic Free July.”

He explained that the 3,000 litres of water the Tapp Ultra filter gives is the equivalent of 605 litre jugs, noting that it is roughly two cents a litre of water, compared to 80 cents a litre if one was purchasing five litre jugs. The filters are replaced two times a year and since each filter gives one 3,000 litres twice a year meaning that one gets 6,000 litres of clean filtered water in a year.

The second product, the TappPro filter is a glass pitcher that holds 1.4 litres of water and all one needs it to fill it up from the faucet and it takes out fluoride, lead, and microplastics as one pours the water from it. It can be stored in a fridge as it does not take lots of space. Its filter should be changed four times a year. The third product he mentioned was the TappToGo Bottle, which he had in his hands.

Activities being held in observance of St. Kitts Plastic Free July 2022 continue on Saturday July 2, with the distribution of environmentally-friendly reusable shopping bags at Ram’s Supermarket and King’s Pavilion Supermarket on Bay Road in downtown Basseterre, Valu Mart Supermarket on Wellington Road, B’s Enterprise in Sandy Point, and Fraites’ Supermarket in Molineux.

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