Government inches slowly towards dump solution
(CNS): As the Health Ministry inches towards a plan to tackle the islands’ rubbish problem, the premier said Monday that a report based on environmental tests at the George Town dump and regarding leaching into the North Sound will be made public in a few weeks after waste management consultants took samples at the landfills on all three islands. Government has still not outlined its policy goals for the future of waste management and is waiting for AMEC, the consultants on the project, to advise them on the best way forward.
While recycling and reuse are likely to dominate any future policy, the premier said that the have not ruled out waste-to-energy or any other way of cutting the amount of garbage going into the landfill, as government waits to hear from the experts.
George Town dump, a.k.a. Mount Trashmore
It is not clear whether Cayman’s future rubbish collection will be entirely in the hands of the private sector, with residents paying fees to a commercial company, or whether it will be a public-private partnership. Government has committed not to move the George Town landfill to Bodden Town or anywhere else but both the premier and the previous minister for environmental health, Osbourne Bodden, have suggested future recycling or composting centres could be located elsewhere.
As part of an awareness campaign to encourage people to reduce the amount of waste they generate and recycle as much as they can right now, the premier plans to announce the winners of a kids poster competition tomorrow. Students at all schools were encourage to submit pictures to help promote the solid waste management hierarchy of reduce, reuse, recycle, recover and dispose.
Meanwhile, as Cayman struggles to recycle even a tiny percentage of its waste, some countries in northern Europe have reached the point where only a fraction of their garbage is disposed of in landfills. According to international media reports, Sweden, which recycles and reuses 99% of its waste with almost half of it generating electricity, has become so good at recycling it is running out of garbage to fuel the power plants and is now taking garbage from other countries.
Category: Environmental Health, Health, Video
Wow, would you look at that picture, a humongous mountain of garbage.
You people should be ashamed of yourselves.
We need a waste management plan for the Legislative Assembly. Clearly recycling is not doing the job. High time we took out the trash once and for all.
I miss the LOL button
This is very demeaning,and even worse than the driftwood comment that caused such an uproar a few months ago. I hope that CNS will remove your very bigoted comment without delay.
You know what is demeaning? That big mountain of garbage in full view of arriving cruise-ship visitors. I hope that the government will remove that mountain of garbage without delay.
It’s called Term Limits, but don’t look for it to come out as a bill from any of the so called career politicians. And even if it did, it would most likely get voted down, because, as you know, they are so “Honourable”.
Sorry to be so negative but recycling will never take on here due to the ignorant attitude on many people. I dropped some glass bottles at the facility at Camana Bay the other day. There is a sign there clearly stating “glass only: no plastic or cardboard”. The first bin I opened had a thick plastic bag in it. The second had only glass so I used that. The third had a cardboard container for a 12 pack of beer. Oh dear. It reminds me of the “igloo” they had on Public Beach some years ago where you could dump “aluminum cans only”. Usually it was full of pizza boxes and styrofoam containers. Oh dear: the beat goes on.
Stop lying to the people and tell them the dump iis going to BT
We can only pray.
That would be the best solution.
Tell them the dump is staying put, but a recycling centre is going to Bodden Town to create employment there 😉
Majority of the hydrogen sulphide gas is generated by the nearby WWTP not the dump. That will be next on the list to deal with. Wonder what the final AMEC report will reveal as the most feasible option. Incineration is still the way to go, but with a price tag of 450M+ including sorting facility this is going to be a hard chunk to swallow for CIG with any party in power. They shouldn’t expect to reap any energy benefits into the national grid until population reaches at least 100K. 450M is a small sum if you consider the peanuts spent on solid waste management over the past 30 years.
What is WWTP?
We live on a tiny island yet people aren’t doing their part!!! All restaurants and bars should be recycling YET has one restaurant stepped up no because it only eat into the owners bottom line having to pay someone to take the recyclables to various recycling check points. YET THEY ALL RECYCLE Caybrew bottles BECAUSE WHY THEY GET MONEY BACK FROM Caybrew.
Honestly, Cayman needs to look at New York if you don’t recycle within New York City you are fined.
Why doesn’t every condo complex, communities, housing development have a recycling area???? No one in your neighborhood could carry the recyclables to the designated recycling areas??? We all need to start taking action on this and stop being lazy!
who writes this bunk
The cayman islands had recycling & plenty of it
It was free but your leaders want to be personally in the waste management business and require YOU to pay for it
the company JUNK is Winstons company full of expat workers and charges you to recycle your material.
In the meantime the other recycling companies are being forced out of existence and monies that were paid out to locals is no longer available.
What a third world way of messing things up
Cayman News Services could you please shine a little more light on this comment about recycling was free , but is now charges people to get rid of recyclable goods, and is government politicians in the business . This would be a conflict of interest , and be a big story .
The recycling and reuse center on dump road is open today and needs your materials to continue to operate They accept A/C, batteries window frames car parts and ewaste Please visit today
Thumbs down why? their really is recycling center on dump road at the first speed bump in the large warehouse they process almost 1 million pounds of material every year
Will that report be as timely as the report commissioned by his education minister to establish a base line of the state of education in the Cayman Islands (undertaken by a consultant called Roland Meredith)and yet to be published. That delay is due to rewrites and the unpalatable truth that the findings were not in keeping with what she and c4c’s thinking. Thus, I ask the valid question , will the report be one of the few reports published in full and implemented?
It is high time that the Dump situation gets dealt with! Sunday (19th) about 7:30pm I traveled north from GT towards WBay on West Bay road. The foul stench of raw sewage was very strong from the Wharf all the way to Coconut-Joe’s. What a treat for our people, guest and residents alike!
The raw sewage stench is due to the raw sewage plant right next to the dump,
Le me share some light on the smell. It is not the sewage plant it is the sewage pump stations on west bay road that are vented to let off gas.
Really CNS, announcing the winner of a kids poster competition is considered progress? Because aside from that, the only progress I see being made is “government waits to hear from the experts.” How is that any different than the last four government administrations? They all have expert reports sitting on the shelf collecting dust.
another non-update from the ppm….
everyone knows they will do nothing with the dump……spineless cowards!