Over one third of waste comes from yards
A typical composting system in the US
(CNS): Officials working on the next steps in implementing a comprehensive waste management system for the Cayman Islands have revealed that yard waste accounts for well over a third of the rubbish going into the George Town dump. The figures demonstrate the pressing need for the premier’s ministry to get a composting project off the ground as soon as possible. Ministry officials held an open house at the government building on Tuesday evening to give the public a chance to ask questions and learn more about the progress towards a new future for waste management, but there are still many challenges ahead.
The chief officer in the heath ministry, Jennifer Ahearn, said that the ministry planned to have the pre-qualification request for proposals ready to be rolled out by the end of this month to begin narrowing the field of likely contenders to take on the daunting task. In the meantime government is hoping to begin educating the public about the new push to reduce, reuse and recycle.
Getting yard waste out of the dump and into a composting site is a critical first step to making a major cut in the rubbish going to the dump. But residents will also have to get used to sorting and dealing with recycling in their homes and then taking it to the supermarket and other community recycling sites.
There are no plans to consider kerbside collections for recycled materials until after 2020, which means that unless residents sort their waste into glass, paper, metal and plastics themselves and deliver it to the recycling centres, most household rubbish will be burned in the waste-to-energy component of the new system if government is to achieve its target of reducing the amount of rubbish it tips into a landfill by 95%.
Jim Schubert, who is heading up the move towards the new waste management system, said that education about recycling would be a very important part of the project, but ultimately, how recycling would work would depend on the ideas and approach of the private sector partner that wins the bid.
Tackling the dump is a major issue for the government, and although the move towards a comprehensive solution has been slow, the current administration has invested more resources in waste-management processes and equipment at the George Town landfill, improving the overall management of the dump.
While the public is slowing increasing its participation in recycling, it still only accounts for a tiny percentage of the waste the island generates and it will require a major education and awareness campaign to persuade people to be more engaged and thoughtful about the waste they generate and then how the dispose of it.
Category: Environmental Health, Health
Why are farmers buying feed for their cattle when there is so much plant material going to the dump? All of my yard waste goes over the fence into the cow pasture behind my house and disappears in short order. If the farmers let the landscapers know where to take the stuff we’d solve 2 problems at once.
The remaining two thirds comes from the legislative assembly.
LMAO – since CNS is constantly taking these buttons away I had to do this via reply. But D@)& good one!
CNS: You sound like we’re punishing readers for being naughty. (“If you don’t behave we’re going to take your buttons away ….) We had a technical issue with the buttons that was seriously affecting the site. We will have to redevelop them.
Why recycle when curbside dumping is so much easier? A good lick with a rattan cane would solve any of that nonesense. No such dumping in Singapore. In fact, not even unauthorized gum chewing.
Good thing I am an authorized gum chewer.
More crap from PPM. So 2/3 of waste is commercial?
compost? Are you crazy? I would much rather import that from Miami.
‘pre-qualification request for proposals’….sums up the ppm perfectly…..zzzzzzzzzz
so true……whatever you do dont take responsibility for anything because that would mean having accountability…..also sums up the Cayman Islands Government and the Civil Service in general….it will take major steps to rid us of that crap
Thats because government stopped us from burning
Stopped you maybe – that’s b/c you are law abiding.
Why are there no labeled recycling bins in all Government entity offices and schools? Each school should have basic “glass, paper, plastic” bins in every classroom and every canteen – start teaching the kids to recycle by giving them the ability to recycle!
Then, during lunch and break time teachers can encourage the children to toss their empty water bottles, chip bags, disposable cutlery etc in to the “plastic” waste bins, napkins, scrap writing paper etc in to the “paper” bins and so forth… as the children get accustomed to this at school they will also encourage at home and Cayman will be instilling recycling in to the minds of our up and coming generations.
I guess buying the bins is not in the PPM budget this year…
How about the kids should be using reusable water bottles anyway, learning to use proper metal utensils even at the primary level and I thought junk food was not allowed at schools to have chip bags.
I agree with your point. Teach the children at a young age, so when they become adults, it is second nature.
Scrap the Port Project then you should have enough $$$ to buy an automated sorting facility. You can try and get the public’s buy in with a few adhoc educational sessions but the mindset for effective recycling takes a generation to institute. I could be wrong, but turning around Cayman’s throwaway mentality is bit like stopping the earth turning. Without some method of funding the solid waste issue, which is transparent and properly accounted for here is another plan doomed to an early failure. The yard waste issue will be better served by community composting depots which will also save on trucking. Makes no sense at all to truck yard waste from East End, North Side or West Bay all the way to a central facility.
Requests for Proposals!! Why? The excuse now is to comply with FFR requirements. What about complying with common sense??!! All CIG needs to do is purchase mulching equipment and mulch the plant matter which clogs Mt. Trashmore to a large degree!
There is not even the need to bag it – the responsibility for packaging it would rest with the customer who would come to collect it!
But we keep electing the morons who direct political policy and the broken system keeps promoting the civil service morons who are responsible for advising the other morons!
For the sake of our sanity, common-sense, efficiency and our childrens’ favourable future let us elect some with sense and ethics next time – if there are any!!! ,
Recycling is easy at the household level. Once you’ve forced yourself to adopt new habits, which is the difficult part, taking all plastics, bottles and cardboard to the clearly marked bins at Hurley’s, for example, becomes a source of satisfaction, not a chore, because you become part of the solution. And since the DEH has taken over these bins, they are being well managed. Everyone should make the effort to recycle their own personal garbage, starting today. Why not, if you have a car?
If we need to recycle ourselves (which isn’t difficult once you purchase the containers to separate items), the gov’t should at least provide recycle bins and more than one garbage can at public parks etc so we can continue the effort.
I was at the SMB public park this weekend and the amount of rubbish all over the kids play area is disgusting! Granted, there are a few recycle bins nearby, but if I picked up every to-go cutlery I found on that playground, I could’ve had place settings for 20 people!! What is wrong with people who just toss their trash on the ground?! And to only have one bin there is absurd! It was overflowing with trash! There are so many “little things” that can be done while the gov’t sits and waits and sits and waits! What about incentives to get the recycling effort going? Ad campaigns to promote it, etc?
This is a no brainer! But we have to pay consultants to tell us how chop bush now. Can the head of the DEH put a plan together to deal with yard waste? He is I am sure capable of that.
‘pre-qualification request for proposals’….sums up the ppm perfectly…..zzzzzzzzzz
Sounds like a UDP solution. Jump right in and damn the process. Lets make some money!!!
There should be a composting site in each district to cut down on transportation. Compost could then be sold in each district. Govt could even make a profit.
Good suggestion but any idea what each composting “site” & equipment would cost? Maybe a collection site in each district would be better.
thanks to the good old civil service, cig makes a profit at nothing
And that’s with the evil green iguanas “eating the island bare”
Not from my yard…that goes over the fence on to my neighbours empty lot!
Hi. Neighbor here…
Thanks neighbour, gonna have some nice rich earth to plant my banana’s, but can you come back and get the washing machine please.