Nadra urges return to old time days

IN the midst of the rainy season and with flooding already an issue in Port of Spain and other parts of the country, San Fernando Mayor Junia Regrello is warning of the effects of plastic bags on the environment and their contribution to flooding. Regrello was speaking Tuesday afternoon at a presentation on Harris Promenade, San Fernando hosted by the Environmental Management Authority (EMA).

The authority’s chairman Nadra Nathai-Gyan, and a team came to distribute reusable bags to the public to mark International Plastic Bag-Free Day. They are hoping the reusable bags will reduce the use of plastic bags. The EMA chairman also presented Regrello with a reusable bag.

Addressing the gathering, Regrello said on Monday he and members of the corporation visited the rivers and watercourses in and around the city and saw how discarded plastic bags and other debris were clogging the drains. “It will cost millions to bring in the excavators to clear the rivers and the water courses in and around the city,” he said.

Regrello said he was s happy to support the International Plastic Bag-Free Day and welcomed the chairman of the EMA to the city.

Nathai-Gyan said there is a need to go back to the old-time days when folks used a reusable bag when they went shopping.