82 August 2016 - Business View Caribbean
(SSFA) with UNEP to begin the process. There will be
a nine-months-to-one-year project duration that will in-
volve stakeholder consultations, leading to a national
consensus on the final content of the waste manage-
ment strategy.
The SLSWMA has also been giving consideration to
making our contribution to increasing energy efficien-
cy in Saint Lucia, through the use of alternative energy,
in keeping with the stated national goal of achieving
a thirty-five percent penetration of the energy needs
of the country by the year 2020. We’ve investigated
the potential for contributing to the goal through the
generation of energy from waste. The country’s effort
is being assisted by the Carbon War Room (CWR) and
the Clinton Climate Initiative (CCI). The latter organi-
zation undertook the study to evaluate the potential
for incorporating a waste-to-energy initiative within the
mix of alternative energy components towards achiev-
ing the overall goal. The quantity of waste collected,
along with the absence of revenue generating mea-
sures within the solid waste portfolio, was not encour-
aging, in terms of viability, though the approach could
have negated the need for the continued costly devel-
opment of landfills. The SLSWMA continues to investi-
gate its contribution to the energy goal through invest-
ment in the establishment of a more energy efficient
operation, particularly at its landfills.
BVM:
What are some of your challenges in regard to
solid waste disposal on the island?
Auguste:
One of our major problems in Saint Lucia is
the amount of plastics that get into the environment.
I would like to see us facilitate a more organized recy-
cling program where we can actually arrange for the
collection of recyclables, rather than allowing them
getting into the environment. The current recycling pro-
gram is very informal. What it consists of is a number
of individuals who collect plastics, cardboard, metals,
and so on, and they do some primary processing such
as baling and shredding, and then ship them out to
countries like India and China where formal recycling
is done; where these materials are being converted to
actual, re-usable material. The local activities are not
regulated. This is one of our major issues. There needs
to be some more order in that system and my expecta-
tion is that the strategy will need to indicate a way of
doing that.
We’ve been discussing, recently, some more environ-
mentally-friendly garbage bags and shopping bags, as
well. One of the main supermarket chains in Saint Lu-
cia had initiated a process of replacing plastic bags by
more reusable bags and reducing the issuance of the
current plastic. They opted to withdraw the initiative as
it seemed to have been working to their disadvantage.
They were alone in the effort. But we need to find a
way to collect all those plastics at source and not allow
them to get into the environment. I’m looking at plas-
tics beverage containers, as well as plastic bags, to be
controlled in some form. The “Management of Bever-
age Containers Bill” should be passed as it seeks to
put a value on those beverage bottles, so that rather
than throwing them out, the public could take them
back to their suppliers for a refund. I think Barbados
has had a very good system that we’re trying to learn
from in an effort to implement a system in Saint Lu-
