$10 tax proposed on certain types of bottles, containers to move recycling efforts forward– GRA Head

GINA, GUYANA, Tuesday, December 6, 2016

The issue of plastic bottles and other often non-returnable containers littering many communities will be addressed in part by the new $10 tax proposed per container.

In a recent interview on the National Communications Network (NCN), Guyana Revenue Authority’s (GRA) Commissioner General, Godfrey Statia explained the reasons that prompted the soon to be introduced tax.

Statia said that the tax envisaged should be geared towards giving credits to persons or companies involved in recycling. “It is not a case, where as far as I am aware, should be going towards Government. It should be used strictly towards helping the environment.”

The GRA Head said that the intention is to boost the efforts of companies seeking to get into recycling. “Basically if there are no penalties for the state of all the bottles and all the tins all over the place, no one would want to get involved in the recycling process. That is basically what the tax is for.”

Imposition of an environmental levy of $10 per unit on importers and local manufacturers of products using non-returnable metal, plastic or glass containers of any alcoholic or non-alcoholic beverage was announced by Finance Minister Winston Jordan during his 2017 Budget presentation on November 28.

The new environmental levy  with  penalties  will  be  implemented  by  amending  the  Customs  Act, Chapter 82:01 to include a section to impose this levy, and will apply, across the board, on both imports and locally manufactured products, thus ensuring that Guyana complies with the provisions of Article 90 of the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas.

 

By: Paul McAdam