Pleass Global Limited, the proprietors of popular bottled water brand AquaSafe, has announced it will reduce the plastic in the packaging of the product.
“As part of the overall plan, we want to reduce plastic used for production and waste,” Mr Pleass said.
We are also proud that our bottles use less plastic to make than all our competitors in Fiji.” Mr Pleass does not believe the company’s sales or customers will be affected.
Mr Pleass said: “To us there is no justification for making multi-packs and certainly no purpose for that plastic wrapper once it is torn off, and we believe most consumers understand this.” Removing machines used to package the bottled from the company’s production line has come at a cost, he said.
“That was a cost to us because they were almost new and was supposed to work for many more years,” Mr Pleass said.
Overall it does contribute to the wider green economy.” The United Nations recently declared a war on plastics, aiming to eliminate major sources of plastics by 2022.
They are concerned, among other things, with the impact plastics are having on the marine ecosystem.
In its campaign, the UN is urging Governments to plastic reduction policies that target industries to minimise plastic packaging and redesign products.
“Fiji, like many countries, has a littering problem,” Mr Pleass said.
“An important first step is for us to stop littering.

But Yang was disappointed to see “disturbing amounts of plastic water bottles and cups” littering the grounds at Parc Jean-Drapeau during last weekend’s festival.
When organizers learned that an extreme heat warning would be in effect last weekend, it was decided that the security team would undertake a mass distribution of bottles of water, he said.
At the end of the day, we will do what we have to to keep people safe.” It was Yang’s third year at Osheaga, “and I have never stepped on water bottles every two steps the way I did this year,” she said in an interview Tuesday.
Vanden Brande acknowledged the lineups, but said “a lot had to do with the weather.” As in prior years, food vendors at Osheaga were required to use compostable containers, cups and utensils, and some offered eco-cups for which concertgoers paid a refundable deposit, he said.
As in the past, waste sorting centres to encourage recycling and composting were in place, and “it is definitely something we want to increase.” Although festival co-ordinators were “extremely pleased” with eco-conscious efforts to date, “we always want to get better,” Vanden Brande said.
We do a lot with garbage and recycling bins and composting, but I do think it is an effort for everyone to make — concertgoers, concessions, everyone.” “Being eco-responsible means taking concrete action, year after year, to minimize the ecological footprint of our events,” Evenko said in a statement in July, when the ban on straws was announced.
Eight recycling bins were filled, and five compost bins.
“We don’t create a lot of garbage,” founder Ziv Przytyk said of the festival, which takes place on his organic family farm.
Przytyk and his brother started to sort the garbage back in the third or fourth year of the festival.
Plastic water bottles.

Soon, single-use packaged plastic water bottles will be banned in all government functions and events organised in government offices, including Vidhana Soudha and Vikasa Soudha.
The government will soon issue orders prohibiting single-use plastic water bottles.
This is being done to curb the increasing plastic pollution.
Chief Secretary T M Vijay Bhaskar said he was keen on its implementation.
The environment department has quoted the recommendation of the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), banning plastic use in government offices.
The idea is to extend it elsewhere.
The proposal states that certified Reverse Osmosis (RO) water purifier, of not below BSI 2006 standards, should be installed and used.
Water will be provided in glass to all those attending government functions.
“To spread the message on the hazards of single-use plastic, we should set a precedent.
It is being done for the first time.

PFAS chemicals are linked to thyroid and liver disease and an increased risk for certain cancers and other illnesses.
Brenda Lantinga has lived in Richland her entire life, living in a farmhouse directly West of Production Plated Plastics from 1971 to 1975, a time when the manufacturing site was still operational.
"I’ve said for years that the drinking water for Richland had to be contaminated," Lantinga said.
Richland Township resident Deb Bogema said she remembers when Production Plated Plastics was in operation and contaminating the groundwater in the 1980s and 90s, adding that she was highly involved in improving the water quality in the area.
When the groundwater was found to be contaminated, Bogema said her goal was to get safe, city water to the schools and homes close to the Production Plated Plastics site.
Samples from the four wells already tested showed levels of PFAS above the Environmental Protection Agency’s health advisory level of 70 parts-per-trillion.
Three of the households that tested for high PFAS levels were provided bottled water, while one was not because the residents did not use their well water for drinking.
State officials are currently testing an additional 24 residential wells in an about 400-acre area east of the former Production Plated Plastics site.
If continually exposed to the chemical, high levels of PFAS can build up in the body and may cause adverse health effects.
Bogema’s water is part of the DEQ’s second round of testing that started July 10.

One million every minute, of every hour, of every day, of every year: right now that’s how many single-use plastic bottles are sold around the world, usually containing just water or soft drinks.
‘The shores are absolutely covered with bottles’ How do plastic bottles end up in the sea?
They become brittle, eventually break into smaller pieces and become magnets for other pollutants before being mistakenly eaten by marine life, thus entering the food chain.
In August last year, Britain’s Plymouth University reported that plastic was discovered inside a third of the fish caught in the United Kingdom – including shellfish, cod and haddock.
“And when I’m diving, they’re always present in the water, too.
I end up collecting them, and once filled seven large bags with nothing but plastic bottles during a dive off the coast of Dibba.
And the drinks companies like consumers to see the contents, so there’s little incentive for them to change their ways.
China is currently the world’s leading consumer of bottled drinks, with increasing urbanisation, concerns about tap-water quality and groundwater contamination driving the demand.
The irony here is that plastic bottles themselves are poisoning the groundwater people are so afraid of drinking – a classic example of the snake eating itself.
But while we’re probably not in need of such a craft, we could install water filters in our homes so that tap water would be perfectly palatable.

Packaged water and drinks manufacturers can heave a sigh of relief as the Maharashtra government has now exempted them from the banned plastic list.
The plastic ban came into effect in the state from June 23.
On Monday, a revised notification was issued which suggests a refundable charge for PET bottles.
As per the notification, the manufacturers are allowed to decide the rate they want to impose during purchase.
As per a report in The Times of India, the manufacturers are not in favour of the buyback rates and are opposing the same.
However, as per the notification, PET bottles of less than 500ml capacity have been banned for drinking water.
It further added that they would recommend a refundable buyback charge of Rs 2 for bottles with 500ml to 1 litre capacity.
The above rule is also applicable for Milk pouches under the scheme.
A refundable charge of 50p will be charged for a pouch of milk.
Nearly 1.2 crore PET bottles are manufactured every day in the state.

Plastic bottled water to be prohibited in tourism and health sectors in Kerala.
This is the first step towards banning plastic from the entire state.
The State Pollution Control Board has given a deadline of six months to remove plastic bottles from resorts, star hotels, hospitals and houseboats.
Immediate notice will be issued to hotels, resorts, hospitals and houseboats through district offices of Pollution Control Board.
It has also suggested that such institutes have to set up their own drinking treatment plant and reverse osmosis plant for safe drinking water along with glass sterilisation units.
Those who violate the ban will have to cough up a fine of Rs 7 lakh or serve up to seven years imprisonment.
The board will cancel the license issued by the Board and order the closure of the institution.
According to the report by the Pollution Control Board of 2015, 15,000 tonnes of plastic are discharged in the cities of India.

Thrissur: Kerala is moving towards complete plastic ban.
In the first phase of the move, bottled water will be banned from tourism and health sectors.
State Pollution Control Board has decided to ban bottled water at star hotels, resorts, houseboats and hospitals with more than 500 beds.
In the next phase, plastic will be banned at all tourism centres.
They are instructed to replace plastic bottles with glass bottles.
Those who violate the rule, they might get seven-year imprisonment and Rs 5 to 7 lakh penalty.
The license of the institutions will be cancelled and will be ordered to shut down.
The ban will be extended to other sectors taking into account the effectiveness of the first phase ban.
According to the Central Pollution Control Board, on an average Indian cities throw away more than 15000 tons of plastic waste each day.
The study included 60 cities featuring Kochi from Kerala which throws 9.43 tons of plastic each day.

The Village of Hoosick Falls could receive over $195,000 from two plastics companies, which residents said was an important step in becoming “whole” again.
“They’re here in the community,” resident Michael Hickey said.
They’re trying to work with us, and they want to make things right as well.” Hickey and other residents hope progress is on the horizon after the village board voted to accept money from plastic companies found responsible for PFOA contamination in the village water supply.
The village board also voted on a tolling agreement that would require both the companies and the village not to take legal action against one another without at least 30-days notice, which was the most contentious part of the meeting.
“It was, like, well, the village board voted to accept this money and there’s no strings attached.
But you gotta vote for both.” Still, the board voted to approve the agreement, and environmental attorney David Engel spoke to make it clear.
“Right now, my expectation frankly is that there will come a time when we have to bring a lawsuit,” he said.
“We know that the well field that they’re currently using is being properly filtered, and people are drinking clean water in the community,” Sean Mahar with DEC said.
“But long-term, we need to find that alternate source, and that’s been our commitment and that commitment isn’t changing.” The state department of health was also in attendance and presented results from a 2016 study that proved people who were on village drinking water generally had higher levels of PFOA in their blood than those who were not.
“Individuals who were tested towards the tail end of that program show lower levels,” DOH Spokesperson Gary Holmes said.

However on being disposed off in landfill sites, plastic products do not decompose at a fast rate and therefore pollute the land or soil in that area.
A study carried out in 2017 and focused on global drinking water pollution with plastics showed that the contamination rate of tap water was the highest in the United States at 94% followed by Lebanon and India.
An estimated 13 million tons of plastic leak into the oceans each year.
An estimated 100,000 marine animals are killed by plastics each year.
However, in the backdrop of the scale of today’s plastic crisis, we need to look at alternative materials seriously, to reduce our dependence on plastic.
Though, there is no single, one size-fits-all solution to the current plastic crisis, Governments, businesses and individuals need to play a major role in weaning society from its dependence on a material that continues to cause havoc in the environment.
India has emerged as a global environmental leader in recent years and is the host country for the World Environment Day 2018 Celebrations.
The Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Government of India, has already set a precedence by requesting various governmental departments to avoid the use of plastic bottles to provide drinking water during governmental meetings, etc., and to instead make arrangements for providing drinking water that do not generate plastic waste.
Similarly, the States of Sikkim and Bihar have also restricted the usage of plastic water bottles in government functions and meetings.
In the meanwhile, we all need to resolve at individual levels to make a beginning by refusing to take delivery of items in plastic bags while shopping and, instead, insist on paper bags, or carry our own cloth or canvas bags from home.