Ministry indicates long wait on dump solution
George Town Dump, Grand Cayman
(CNS): The Cayman Islands Government is still not expecting to sign a final contract to begin the long-awaited proposed waste-management plan until at least the middle of next year. In an update about the negotiations between the ministry responsible for environmental health and the preferred bidder, DECCO, which have lasted more than a year, officials said the contract will not be signed until after an environmental impact assessment has been completed and the bidder secures planning permission for the project. The ministry said it would not expect the project to be completed until almost the end of 2021, if all goes to plan.
According to the latest update, confirming comments by the minister in September, the project is years away from being operational. Despite the exceptionally protracted negotiations, officials claimed the talks were going well and the technical layouts for all of the elements that will comprise this proposed integrated solid waste-management system (ISWMS) have been finalised.
This includes the composting facility, recycling centre, scrap metals and the waste-to-energy, as well as the remediation of the existing landfills.
CIG hopes a draft ISWMS contract will be ready by the end of the first quarter of next year, when the EIA is expected to get underway before the project goes before the Central Planning Authority. Even if the final contract is signed by the end of the second quarter, it will be more than a year and a half after that before the facility will be operational.
Despite the long wait, officials stated, “It may seem like the negotiations are taking a long time, but the ISWMS project is a 25-year term contract with the preferred bidder to design build finance operate and maintain (DBFOM) the ISWMS Facilities, so the overall function and designs of the various facilities that make up the ISWMS need to be provided to the satisfaction of CIG.”
Category: Environmental Health, Health
Incinerators vs. WTE plant??
“Incineratorsare facilities that treat waste by burning it. They come under many names such as “mass burn incinerators,” “thermal treatment facilities,” or so-called “waste-to-energy” (WTE) plants, and involve processes such as combustion, pyrolysis, gasification, or plasma arc. But they all have the same claim— “burning waste will make our waste problems disappear.”
http://www.no-burn.org/facts-about-waste-to-energy-incinerators/
Just like the unlined Dump cant be truly remediated, WTE won’t give you clean air and all other benefits you would expect. There are no regulations to start with. There are no qualified and experienced personnel. DOE is as dumb when it comes to WTE plant as a lay person.
@8.15am
There is no need for a pi$$ing contest about WTE. Your goal seem to be to ridicule me, not to find the truth or at least learn a little more on the subject.
Does anyone know where the recycling and incinerator system will be located? I haven’t seen a location mentioned anywhere.
Right where the dump is now
We will never achieve a 95% rate waste reduction as will all be under 3 ft of water long before then.
Complete rubbish!
https://foresternetwork.com/weekly/msw-management-weekly/landfill-management/cleaning-up-unlined-landfills-in-the-united-states/
Ever consider the high number of cancer patients per capita in the Cayman Islands?? This is NOT normal.
This is unbeliveable. I remember them saying this in 2013 elections, and we are almost 2019 and still in need of more assessment to finalize???? Good job for lawyers and companies providing these, they sure are making money….
I wonder what are Government priorities….sure that health is not one of them.
Procurements of this size is just too complicated for CNS posters to understand.
Read the Biller Paw report. You will be just as confused.
As long as when it happens it is done right and provides the desired benefits over the 25 year plus life span. It took us 40 odd years to get in the current state so I think we can wait another year or three to get a proper solution.
Hopefully ALL of the moaners are presently using the recycling facilities. My household has HALVED (at least) the amount of garbage we put into the dump.
And the “recyclable” garbage goes where?
Any recyclable items have to be shipped off island. This is what increases the costs. Very likely that many recyclables may end up in the waste-to-energy due to these costs. Either way MUCH BETTER than in a landfill.
Much worse you mean.
The abilities of local MLAs to deal with the country’s challenges has been put to the test in the last several decades. What do we have to show for it? Remove Dart from the equation and this country would have gone down hill severely. Even now there are few areas running smoothly and some of the most competent MLAs were voted out and replaced by unskilled politicians. Politicians need to have had life experience of accomplishments PRIOR to running for office.
Yet, in early 2019 Dart Realty & NCB Development will start constructing luxury residences next door to Mt. Trashmore and market them for $200K – $600K! Do you really think Dart will allow Government to drag its feet on this matter when it (Dart) has such high stakes in the issue? Not a chance!
My prediction is that before Dart’s/NCB’s construction deadline of 2020, we’ll see Mt. Trashmore closed and remediated into a “clean”, grassy hill! Thankfully!
10:44 – If it could only be that way! Unfortunately no matter how much Mr. Dart tries to remediate the dump into a “clean grassy hill”. Which will obviously look way better than it’s current state. The problem still remains is what has leached out into our environment and North Sound over the last 40 plus years! Just take a look at the mossy green water behind Jay’s old marl pit ( behind Progressive) along with the adjoining Dyke roads with the stench and garbage drifting into the North Sound from them! Yet Dart wants to build near this? I seriously think that money plays a bigger factor here than the peoples health and well being! I know I wouldn’t live there even if you paid me!
If only you knew how much the consultants and lawyers are making out of this mess! And we have absolutely nothing to show for it apart from a mountain of shit!
6:49. I know the private sector dragging its feet again. Dont worry the civil service will get it right.
Because they’ve done such a great job so far? Lol
Great news but will it be the same environmental health intentional over-time abusive money spenders management and indentified employees that had impausible over-time records for salaries received. In which they were identified as in the environmental health internal audit report in which the matter is still under investigation a statement that were made in the auditor report by the chief officer for health. Which the report were released to the public on October 1, 2018. And no further up-date were provided to the public about the progress of the investigation since October 1, 2018. CNS can you please get an up-date for the public ASAP on the investigation that the chief officer for health said that the investigation is still going on.
More smoke and mirrors. What a load of bs.
In the meantime the people suffer with the sight of the Cayman Mountian
Look the other way. It has worked so far.
I’d like to describe this as ‘Third World’ but the fact is I’ve visited third world countries with a better grip on garbage disposal and recycling than we have here.
The reason it isn’t moving forward is exactly the same one that was holding everything back when I first came here in 1992 – nobody can see a percentage for themselves in it.
And sadly this ‘what’s in it for me’ mentality, with too many people who can’t see any further than their bank balances running things, is what will ultimately kill these islands. I bet if tomorrow some of those involved in this fiasco discovered that garbage disposal was a potentially multi-million dollar business they’d be killing each other trying to grab a piece of the action.
Most accurate comment on this website for a long time. All they care about is lining their own pockets. Not the greater good of Cayman.
Is anyone really surprised by this? All the PPM know how to do is burn through public funds by building grand structures that no one wanted in the first place!
I wonder how much of the dump waste is made up of plans, proposals and reports about dealing with the dump? It’s been a “top priority” for nearly 20 years now and numerous people have got rich and retired out of it, meanwhile not one single thing has changed on the ground. Why don’t they just admit it’s all too hard and they can’t really be bothered?
the usual non-update from our inept civil service…
Given the health consequences the school at the foothills of the dump should not be permitted.
Dart knows, or must know that today, waste to energy, aka incinerator, is not going to fly. People all over the world have been rejecting incinerators in their neighborhoods.
Dart and his people live on this island themselves, therefore breath the same air you breath. They would not want to endanger their own health further.
They also know what “bottom ash”and “fly ash” is and what would it take to safely dispose of former and minimize the later. They know that running an incinerator would require nuclear plant operator skills and draconian controls. Neither is possible in the Caymanian island. It would be cost prohibitive to hire experienced operators from overseas. And there are still no regulations.
Besides, WTE is so yesterday and is being replaced with waste management sorting facilities& recycling.
Dart knows all that, but CIG is not and probably, being incompetent, is looking for shortcuts.
A visionary would be already looking into what you are going to do 20 years from now with solar panels, which as of today, is almost impossible to recycle.
Dart also knows that to tame an unlined dump of gigantic proportions is a gargantuan, may be even impossible task. Seeding it with grass is not going to fly either. To get an idea read this https://foresternetwork.com/weekly/msw-management-weekly/landfill-management/cleaning-up-unlined-landfills-in-the-united-states/
Add into the mix of the problem toxic sludge disposal, tons of dead animals, medical and radioactive waste and who know what else.
So the fact that negotiations take so long don’t surprise me. Dart knows what it would take and cost to bring waste management into 21st century, but CIG has no slightest idea. Just read the above mentioned 2014 article.
My personal opinion is, until this all sorted out, a new, temporary, properly lined landfill is opened on the outskirts of Grand Cayman. It must include sorting facilities. It would require hiring experts from other countries.
That would be the start and opportunity to practice. The Dump must stop accepting garbage of any sort. Now. Today.
It is really a shame that people of this country have allowed the issue to reach unmanageable proportions. Because you, the people, have power. You stopped development of Smith Cove and about to finish collecting signatures for the referendum.
Sam, at last some informed comment, you have ticked all the boxes, congratulations.. I cannot fathom how you get any thumbs down, it has to be redneck PPM supporters.
So where will the garbage go starting now?
The emission control system in waste to energy facilities are far more efficient than is constantly touted by self proclaimed experts. The air quality surrounding energy from waste facilities is comparable and in many cases lower than other traditional forms of electricity generation – including diesel burning generators. It is obviously still not the cleanest solution to our energy needs but we will be able to reduce a large portion of our waste whilst offsetting emissions created through our current generation. Its worth doing some research into the matter if you’re interested. Of course we will require a lot of overseas professional assistance but I don’t understand where a nuclear plant operator would come into play.
However, of course, there is the concern that the emission control limitations as set out by the EU will be ignored.
I’m interested in your idea of having the dump stop accepting garbage. How do you think that would play out?
WTE Power plant operator job bulletin. Just see what it takes.
http://agency.governmentjobs.com/spokanecity/job_bulletin.cfm?jobID=1577174&sharedWindow=0
Now, if you want to prove that solid waste incinerators are safe for humans, you’ll find plenty of supporting material. Just find out where’s it coming from and who sponsors it.
If you have high school diploma and common sense you would not need to research anything. You would know that clean air and incinerators don’t go together. You would also know that words “control”and “enforcement” in the Cayman island have no meaning.
WTE is just a PR term for naive and gullible. Fortunately, many people, don’t buy it. Only one incinerator was built in the USA since 1995.
What is going to happen if the Dump stops accepting garbage? Sometime the only way to stop madness is too make things worse.
Google
how it was done on the Corfu island, which, just like the Cayman islands is a major tourists destination. Only its people have spirit of fighters, not docile sheeps. They won’t swallow DOE statements that stormwater sludge and the quarry fire are harmless.
By the way, don’t you want to know what is happening to the tons of dead iguanas? Or they should decompose naturally causing no harm?
Back to the negotiations with Dart. Dart knows that he will be held responsible for every minor problem that would come from the dump remediation and incinerator. Therefore before undertaking the project, he wants to be sure that it is actually possible, cost wise, to accomplish.
According to the above mentioned article ( the link in my comment) the remediation cost could come to 1bil. Plus annual maintenance and operation costs.
Why does he want to do it properly? Because he lives here.
Germany has made extensive use of waste to energy facilities and is renown worldwide for their clean energy supply. I do not like to the US as an example when it comes to evaluating our energy needs. If you want to look at a more regional example look at Bermuda. They have had a waste to energy facility since the 90s and have not had to face the crisis that we face as a result. Waste is however a continual issue and they are constantly looking to adapt to their growing population being the most densely populated place in the world. I’m hoping Cayman looks to do the same as our population grows.
There absolutely is a massive difference between incinerators and waste to energy facilities. Waste to energy facilities are required to meet strict emission limit values placed on them by the Industrial Emissions Directive. If they fail to do so then they are simply classified as incinerators. To say that there isn’t a difference is spreading misinformation which after a quick google I see you got from the very reliable source of energyjustice.net.
You are correct though about one thing and that is that Cayman may cut corners when it comes to our own facility ignoring the need for emission control. I am totally for a waste to energy facility if done properly.
If you look at the comparison between waste to energy emission and fossil fuel-based energy generation emissions, waste to energy has far, far lower emissions. Why not offset some our current emissions and deal with our waste issue at the same time? The only suggestion you’ve given is to have the dump stop accepting waste. Madness is right. You want waste to build up in our homes, streets, schools to what end? Some genius will have the bright idea to allocate it all somewhere else out of site.
Incinerator’s [Bermuda]highly toxic pollutants exceed permitted level by four times
http://mobile.royalgazette.com/article/20120808/NEWS/708089990
I am totally for a waste to energy facility if done properly.
‘Emissions data for the incinerator show dioxin emerging at four times the permitted amount — a Ministry spokesman said it’s routine for the facility.
The details emerged after Government called for waste-to-energy proposals for Tynes Bay.’
A clear distinction between incinerators and waste-to-energy facilities within the article.
“At the time of construction, technology did not exist whereby we could easily capture dioxins,” the spokesman said.
Did you read the article or just the headline because it is debunking a lot of your own arguments.
Did you read this editorial and the following comment? https://www.caymancompass.com/2018/10/04/editorial-george-town-landfill-time-to-clear-the-air/
“Residents and visitors still cannot breathe easy, however, as we reported on the front page of Thursday’s Cayman Compass. Over the past two years, nearly 2 million pounds of trash have been intentionally incinerated at the George Town and Cayman Brac landfills, without the use of “scrubbers” – devices that remove toxins from the incinerators’ exhaust.”
Scrubbers which are mandatory for the classification of incinerators as a WtE facility. As for the following comment, that is from someone who states he worked on a waste INCINERATOR. There is a difference.
Facts about “Waste-to-Energy” Incinerators.http://www.no-burn.org/facts-about-waste-to-energy-incinerators/ “Among the most aggressively promoted incinerators are “waste-to-energy” facilities. Not only do they claim to make waste “disappear,” they also claim to produce energy during the process.
But studies have shown that this premise is without scientific basis. “
There is a ridiculous amount of scientific basis. Please, please do research into countries all over the world which have been implementing this practice for decades now, typically those known to make the most out of clean energy such as Germany. I know you won’t though, you go to a website like no-burn.org and make up your mind.
I’m a former Nuclear Engineer, now living in Cayman. I just have 2 points:
1. Running a WTE facility is a lot easier than a nuclear power station, I can categorically assure you.
2. A WTE facility is almost nothing like a garbage incinerator, and is far, far cleaner than our current power station. As a part of a diverse energy supply, it can solve 2 problems at once.
I rather like the idea of a nuclear power station – it would take away the power from our profit obsessed CUC, and it would be yet another popular tour destination for our cruise sheep when they start pouring off the piers.
Yeah, right. And I am Albert Einstein
Waaait, its now a DBFOM? Does that mean that Dart really will be running (operating, the O in DBFOM) the dump? – Methinks that needs some follow-up questions.
No. He won’t
How many Caymanian jobs will be created? Dart can’t organize their ranks sufficiently to hire local crews to maintain the ever-expansive DRCL holdings via proxy and beachfront. They sit on thousands of acres of unmaintained property, much of it acquired through backrooms, it many cases, pretending it’s still government land or leasehold, while teams of community volunteers feel compelled to spend their Sunday mornings cleaning them themselves. Are they being fined $10,000 a day for the Hyatt eyesore? I see they are now making Handel Whittaker front their beachrock removal application for Calico Jack’s…under the premise of turtle grass removal in a designated Environmental Zone…there seems to be an acute shortage of good faith, yet we are going to trust the inventors of polystyrene with the cleanup of our landfill?
15/11/2018 at 9:51 am – SPOT ON!!!!!
More than you have created in an entire lifetime of bitterness and jealousy.