Plastic Bottles and Bags Leading Pollution Across Belize

Plastic pollution is once again in the spotlight tonight, as a new report from the non-profit Sea of Life warns that the problem in Belize is getting worse, not better. The 2025 study shows plastics now make up sixty seven percent of all recorded debris nationwide, an uptick from last year, with single use beverage bottles leading the pack. And while Belize’s 2022 ban on items like Styrofoam, cups, plates, and straws was celebrated as a step forward, the report says the plastics not covered under that ban are still overwhelming our ecosystems. News Five’s Britney Gordon takes a closer look at the findings.

 

Britney Gordon, Reporting

Single‑use plastics are choking our environment. They show up everywhere, on our streets, in our bushes, even on the seafloor, and they can linger for centuries. Belize banned single‑use plastics and styrofoam products in 2022 to fight the problem. But a new Sea of Life trash study shows the challenge isn’t over. Plastic still dominates our waste, making up sixty‑seven percent of all debris collected nationwide.

 

Paulita Bennett-Martin, Executive Director, Sea of Life

“Mostly single-use plastics, so a lot of bottles, bottle caps, bottle rings, all the things that you would think of with bottles. A lot of bags, polystyrene takeout, like clamshell takeaway containers. The shilling water is still up there in it too. It’s predominantly single use plastics that you see. We do see broken pieces and fragments as well, which is natural for plastics. It does break up into smaller pieces. It doesn’t break down and go away. And so that’s what we’re seeing is again, sisposable culture at work.”

 

In 2024, Sea of Life launched TrashBlitz Belize, a nationwide trash‑collection and monitoring effort. The 2025 National TrashBlitz tagged fourteen thousand, two hundred and eight pieces of trash at seventeen sites across Belize. Plastic bottles topped the list with nearly three thousand, five hundred collected, and two thousand of those were Crystal water bottles. Coca‑Cola and Belikin beer bottles also showed up among the most common items.

 

Paulita Bennett-Martin

“Unfortunately the brands that we see most common is gonna be your crystal water. You’re gonna see Pelican Beer, Coca-Cola products. Those brands are. The most popular for a good reason. We all love Coke. I love Fanta. And people enjoy their beers. But with that comes responsibility of making sure that the waste goes to the appropriate place, which is in a bin, but beyond also thinking about where waste goes, we should also be rethinking the type of packaging that we choose for our water. For instance, do we really need to have small shilling water for an open market.”

 

According to Bennett-Martin, an alarming portion of litter is found underwater as it collects sand and sinks to the seafloor, where it meets marine life.

 

Paulita Bennett-Martin

“That the chemicals in plastics are actually endocrine disruptors, so they pose public health risks. They also get into the sea,  they get into our food. They’re in the tissue of many of the fish that have been studied in the area, as well as all sorts of other biodiversity.”

 

Belize’s 2022 plastic ban didn’t cover plastic bottles or water pouches. To cut down on waste, Bowen & Bowen runs a nationwide recycling program that pays cash for returned glass and plastic bottles, as well as Tetra Paks. But despite those efforts, their containers still make up a large share of the country’s pollution. Sea of Life says the Department of the Environment, which enforces the plastic ban, has shown interest in the latest TrashBlitz findings.

 

Paulita Bennett-Martin

“The Department of Environment has been amazing about asking questions, reaching out, using the data for their own conversations. We know that the Department of the environment passed a law back in 2022. They, I think, struggled because of COVID-19 coming through. And then also from other dynamics within likely the for-profit industry about being able to implement their law. But they want to implement their law and I think that they have great opportunities to implement it using this data.”

 

TrashBlitz started as a way to track whether refillable water stations on school campuses were reducing waste. It has since grown into a national conversation about how we behave and how pollution spreads. Sea of Life now urges government, businesses, and institutions to switch to refillable water stations to cut dependence on single‑use plastics and stop plastic from leaking into communities and the environment.

 

Paulita Bennett-Martin

“If we’re not carrying the single use plastics on our school campuses or stocking it in our offices and government buildings, then guess what? We won’t see in the waste and litter stream, single-use plastic. So that’s kind, that’s what we’re doing.”

 

Sea of Life also recommends a complete ban on plastics, with its Implementation supported by public education, affordable alternatives, and assistance to small businesses. Britney Gordon for News Five.