Govt, build on work of Plastikeep

THE EDITOR: I read of the Government’s plan to “shut down all the landfills in TT and replace them with modern, scientific methods of waste capture and disposal.”

This is sorely needed and I do hope the Government puts something in place for waste disposal before shutting down the dumps (massive difference between a dump and a landfill – Google it).

The Minister of Planning and the Environment indicated that “the plan will be centred on a nationwide waste recycling project, which has already been initiated by the Environmental Management Authority (EMA) from January 2018.” This is also excellent and very much needed.

There was also a six-point plan detailing what the shutdown would involve. I think the Government is wasting time and energy reinventing the wheel. I say this because three of the six points detailed are exactly what the Government’s Green Fund-financed Plastikeep was doing for the past seven years. The three points are:

• Diversion of waste from the landfills.

• Capture and recovery of materials for the productive economy which includes reuse, recycling and gathering energy from waste.

• Public education and enforcement on sustainable waste practices such as waste prevention and minimisation, reuse and recycling.

It still baffles me as to why the Green Fund has stopped funding this very worthwhile project. Plastikeep has been doing the educating on recycling for years. It is in 47 schools already. It has 90 plus bins all over Port of Spain. It promotes “reduce, reuse and recycling.” Lots of details on its website.

So why start from scratch? Why not build on what’s already there? Why not meet with Plastikeep, discuss the ministry’s objectives, discuss Plastikeep’s goals and try to work out a way forward. This would be a win-win situation. Don’t just shut down an organisation that was doing exceptional work and gained the trust of stakeholders, to have another government-run organisation, that no one trusts, trying to do what Plastikeep was doing.

We all know that the EMA cannot do the job that Plastikeep was doing.

FRANCINE MOHAMMED via e-mail