Richard Butler | Exclusive By G. Bule of Daily Post | Sept 23rd, 2019
As Vanuatu embarks on its plans to ban all products made from plastic, kava bars are proving empty plastic bottles are still useful.
Empty plastic bottles of water are discarded and considered detrimental to the environment, however today it is one of the most useful items in kava bars, in particular for customers who wish to order kava juice takeaway.
Initially when people say “the used plastic bottle today is money” everyone in town knows they are referring to the empty bottles of Tusker beer which are sold.
Now it is the turn of bottle imported by many beverage companies. There are other plastic bottles used for imported juice or water are also bought by kava bars to fill kava juice for their customers.
The price varies following the different sizes: an empty 600ml plastic bottle sells for Vt10 and 1.5 litre for Vt20. Bigger size plastic bottles are not accepted.
One of the interesting stories behind this new initiative happened very recently at Malapoa Area as the owner of a popular kava bar at Second Lagoon goes there regularly to buy empty plastic bottles.
The amount of money the local businessman paid to the mothers and children there reached Vt11,000.
When the man drove away with his empty bottle plastics on board his Land Cruiser, the mothers and children sit down together and shared the money.