Discard old approaches

PUBLIC Utilities Minister Marvin Gonzales wants to see the State’s waste management facilities improve and become more financially viable.

At the same time, he is not holding his breath for a culture change when it comes to how we treat with trash.

“I am not sure if TT is at a stage where it is ready for that kind of transformation as yet,” Mr Gonzales told Newsday on Sunday, in response to the start of the perennial fires at the Forres Park landfill in Claxton Bay.

Mr Gonzales is correct to focus on low-hanging fruit. The State has the capacity to look at its own systems and to adjust them in order to make the best of the situation. A good place to start is the Solid Waste Management Company (SWMCOL) – which falls under the minister’s portfolio – which is allocated more than $100 million annually in the national budget.

Mr Gonzales has asked SWMCOL to come up with a plan for an engineered landfill system that could see the decommissioning of the Beetham, Guanapo and Forres Park landfills. This system would sift out recyclable materials, leaving the rest to be dumped.

This approach could make a big difference. About 80 per cent of waste in TT is recyclable.

But isn’t that a reason to focus on getting citizens to properly sort and manage their own habits? Shouldn’t the problem be addressed at the source?

To some extent, the minister is correct to think not. Over the years, projects designed to trigger awareness and a shift in culture have been consigned to the dustbin of history.

The recycling bins around the city of Port of Spain are underutilised, if used at all for that purpose. Mayor Joel Martinez’s Curbside Recycling pilot project – which allowed Woodbrook residents to sort and separate their rubbish – has come and gone, with little follow-up.

The Environmental Management Authority has done a lot of recycling of its own. Over the years we’ve seen the Beverage Containers Clean-Up Project, then the Recyclable Solid Waste Collection Project, also known as iCare. The impact has been as memorable as their names.

Not to mention draft beverage container legislation which lapsed, or perhaps died under a mountain of plastic bottles.

More effective have been things like SWMCOL’s Chase Charlie Away campaign and the phased banning of materials like Styrofoam and plastic straws. Corporate entities have also begun to tackled the problem of plastic bags.

Yet we remain decades behind the world in terms of environmental consciousness.

At the same time, we produce about 700,000 tonnes of waste per year. Every year, flash flooding causes tremendous damage.

Mr Gonzales is clearly under no illusions. But we no longer have the luxury of taking things slow. With landfills overflowing, we have to discard our old approaches completely.