Government officials are now examining 28 proposals for a US$500-million project to construct at least two garbage processing plants that will convert domestic waste into energy for sale to the Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS).

According to Bobby Montague, junior minister responsible for local government, the multi million-dollar waste-to-energy project will see a transformation in the garbage disposal system for Kingston and Montego Bay in the first instance.

Dumping of waste at Riverton City in Kingston and other landfills will cease

Saying that the dumping of waste at Riverton City in Kingston and other landfills will cease as the project comes on stream, Montague was, however, unable to say when the project would be implemented.
"I can't give a specific timeline right now," he said. "It is new ground for Jamaica. We are now doing evaluation and then there is a negotiation period."

The request for proposals is now complete and a decision on a successful bidder should be made by June 10.

The new system, Montague explained, will involve the burning of domestic solid waste at ultra-high temperatures to convert it into gas.
"The gas will then be used to produce electricity, which will be sold into the JPS grid," he said.

The minister's plan is to have garbage collected islandwide and fed into the waste-to-energy processing plants.

"Over time, the entire island will be patched into the network," he said, adding that the cost of the project would be borne exclusively by the successful investor.

"We have 28 proposals from all over the world, the bulk coming out of the US and Canada," said Montague. "They are putting up all the money."

At the outset it is envisaged that the landfill at Riverton City in Kingston will cease to exist in its present form and be replaced by a facility with power generation capacity where garbage is used as fuel.

Proposals from the bidders for the waste-to-energy system are varied and include the conversion of waste into bio diesel, the production of ethanol and the use of a mix of sewage and solid waste in the process.

"All the investors are not proposing the same type of operation," Montague said. However, the chosen system will likely be one that includes the production of ethanol.

"It's cleaner energy if we go to ethanol," he said.

Montague said that his ministry was working with the Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR), the Finance Ministry and the Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica (PCJ) to formulate the terms and logistics of the operation.
The systems under consideration are now being used in North America, the junior minister said. However, standards suitable to the Jamaican environment will be set by the various local agencies.

"They are doing the necessary research," said Montague, adding that refuse from other countries will not be used in the process.

"We have decided that we will set our own standards," he concluded.

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