On July 10, 2026, thousands of Haitian citizens joined coordinated nationwide actions organized by two leading environmental advocacy groups—Alternatiba Haiti’s National Citizen Movement for Climate Alternatives and the Francophone Action Group for the Environment (GAFE)—to mark the 8th annual National Day of Citizen Mobilization against polystyrene use across the country. The mobilization unfolded across more than 20 Haitian municipalities, where demonstrators gathered outside local town halls to demand urgent government action: a full, permanent, and uncompromising ban on all forms of polystyrene products, and long-overdue enforcement of a national ban first signed into law back in July 2013.
Demonstrators carried signs and chanted a unifying rallying cry that encapsulates their core demand: “We want a more beautiful Haiti, not a garbage dump! Down with polystyrene!” In a joint statement released during the mobilization, leaders from Alternatiba Haiti and GAFE highlighted a critical policy failure that has perpetuated the country’s ongoing polystyrene crisis: more than a decade after the original ban went into effect, these single-use products still saturate local markets and contaminate the national landscape, proving that the problem is not the absence of regulation, but a persistent lack of political will to implement existing rules.
The groups outlined the severe, cascading harms of unregulated polystyrene use that Haitian communities face daily. Beyond creating widespread visual pollution that blights public spaces, discarded polystyrene clogs drainage canals and natural ravines, directly worsening the country’s chronic flood risk during tropical storm and hurricane seasons. Polystyrene also poses a serious threat to public health: the product is a known carcinogen, putting Haitian residents at elevated long-term risk of cancer through environmental exposure. Compounding the issue, the organizations confirmed that nearly all illegal polystyrene entering Haiti is trafficked through unregulated cross-border smuggling networks, which evade existing customs controls to bring the banned product into local markets.
To address this ongoing crisis, Alternatiba Haiti and GAFE have laid out a clear set of demands for Haitian national and local authorities. First, they call for immediate full implementation and consistent enforcement of the 2013 ban, with aggressive action to shut down all illegal importation and commercial trade of polystyrene products. Second, they demand enhanced, consistent border security inspections to block smuggling routes that bring illegal polystyrene into the country. Third, they urge policymakers to proactively support and incentivize the adoption of eco-friendly alternatives, including reusable food and beverage containers that eliminate the need for single-use polystyrene.
The groups also issued a broad call for collective action across all sectors of Haitian society, inviting individual citizens, community organizations, primary and secondary schools, universities, religious institutions, local businesses, and municipal governments to join the mobilization effort. Beyond public support, organizers are asking all participating stakeholders to help monitor commercial use of polystyrene products across the country, holding violators of the 2013 ban accountable to create long-term change for Haiti’s environment and public health.