The promise of support from Japan to tackle this country’s waste disposal challenges, which are fast approaching crisis levels, is one that local authorities should grasp with both hands.
Excessive waste generation poses threats to T&T’s environment and public health due to steady increases in the amount of waste generated from households and industrial activities.
Most Trinbagonians don’t see it as an urgent matter until they find themselves at the mercy of the country’s inefficient and outdated waste collection system, confronted with unsightly piles of garbage and the accompanying stench.
But with the major landfills at Beetham, Forres Park and Guanapo now well past their expiration dates and operating with dwindling capacity, the solutions being offered from a recycling facility in Osaki Town, Japan, might just be the kick-start this country needs to adopt more efficient, eco-friendly ways of dealing with waste.
The urgency of the situation and the need to more aggressively implement improved systems for collection, recycling and disposal of waste, well beyond what is currently available through the Solid Waste Management Company Ltd (SWMCOL) and the various regional corporations, cannot be overstated.
The current systems are operating on borrowed time.
T&T’s landfills receive approximately 700,000 tonnes of waste a year—1,500 to 2,000 tonnes a day—adding up to waste generation at a per capita rate of 1.5kg, which is excessive in a country with a population of approximately 1.4 million.
But for too long only scant attention has been paid to the rapid growth in the volume of waste being generated, particularly the increased proportions of non-biodegradable and hazardous material.
At the country’s largest landfill site at Beetham, located just outside Port-of-Spain, rapid deterioration is highlighted by the fires which occasionally blanket the capital in foul-smelling smoke, indiscriminate salvaging and the negative impact on the environmentally sensitive Caroni Swamp.
At the Guanapo landfill, shrinking capacity is further exacerbated by the encroachment of squatters and other landfills are not faring much better.
Then there is the illegal dumping of waste along the verges of roadways, vacant lots and watercourses, contributing significantly to flooding and posing a constant threat to public health.
Given the extent of the problem, it is worrying that there is so little national dialogue about it and so little effort put into programmes to educate and raise public awareness of the need to reduce waste and develop a mindset for recycling.
There has been an effort between the Ministry of Public Utilities and SWMCOL to operate a public sector recycling programme (PSRP) and a materials resource recovery facility (MRF) has been in operation at the Guanapo landfill for seven years, in addition to some small-scale recycling programmes here and there but nothing exists at a level capable of transforming and modernising T&T’s waste management systems.
A plan to replace the woefully outdated solid waste master plan, which is now more than 40 years old, is long overdue.
As the nation that birthed a musical instrument from recycled materials back in the 20th century, it defies logic that T&T is so slow to adopt recycling practices in other areas of national life.
Now, with technical support on offer from a country thousands of miles away, there is an opportunity to fix a problem that has been broken for far too long.
Here’s hoping the will exists to bring this project to fruition.