GLOBALLY, awareness of the importance of conservation and recycling is growing, and this awareness is being reflected in Jamaica, where major steps are being taken towards making these concepts a part of everyday life and business.

Among these are advanced plans for the conversion of the Riverton City dumpsite to a sanitary landfill with a recycling and reuse component and an initiative to begin waste exchanges among public and private organisations.

The waste exchange will be a web-based programme intended to improve efficiency, productivity and competitiveness through reduced production costs, create job opportunities and reduce the rate of environmental damage.

A project of the Environmental Action (ENACT) programme of the National Environmental and Planning Agency (NEPA) in collaboration with Premier Waste Management, the website is expected to be up by March, and should match persons who have useful waste with persons who want cheap raw materials.

“It provides a place for people who want waste to find it,” explains environmental specialist, Stewart Forbes. “We hope that by offering these services, people will start to exchange waste more efficiently and effectively and instead of putting it on the dumpsite or in the landfill, it ends up being a useful resource. It should reduce the level of waste…. For example, if old tyres are a problem, we can use the waste exchange to let people know if someone wants tyres to be chipped and is offering money for them. It has that sort of feature that can give relevant, useful information periodically. It’s really a way to link people who have waste with people who want to use it or upgrade it.”

The website, www.wastex.org.jm, will work by having persons register their waste available, waste wanted, waste service offered or general information to be listed. The latter two will attract a fee along with a transactional fee which have not yet been determined in order to cover administrative costs. Persons would then have to monitor their listing and respond directly to enquiries. It is intended to be virtually self-maintaining and low-cost, but with maximum usefulness.

“Ultimately it would be a win-win situation where people can use the waste at a reasonable cost,” said Forbes. “We also hope it will help in the recycling and recovery of raw material. We will also offer the information periodically in document form on what is available. Ultimately it will be self-correcting where people can load their own information. We want it to be user-friendly, low cost, driven by the need of the community and look after itself in a cost effective way.”

A key function of the site will be to make persons who have relatively small quantities of useful waste aware of and in contact with each other. Then, he says, they could reach critical mass, gathering enough of the material to make exchange economically viable.

“The advantage of the Internet is that we will be linked to other recycling sites and anyone who uses the Internet will have access to it. What we want to do is make it Caribbean wide and ultimately international. The reality of the situation is Jamaica is not big enough to stand on its own in this area, but collectively, there might be some solution. If the waste exchange could help make some of that happen, that would be great.”

He said the site is currently being located on a server, with the company setting up its database. The site should be available by early March and start operations fully by the end of March.

Sectors that have responded favourably to queries include agriculture, construction, food and beverage, mining, tourism and related associations.

Forbes says he is encouraged by early interest shown.

“In working with the private sector, people are saying this was much needed. All the people have problems. What we want to do is use the waste exchange to encourage people to produce less waste, use it as a waste minimisation programme, to make people aware that a valuable resource is going out the gate. For every tonne that leaves the site in waste, it’s money going out.”

The long-term benefits are also enormous, both in environmental and economic terms.

“For each of the waste areas identified, you’re talking millions of dollars in net savings for Jamaica, as well as natural resources saved,” he said. “It maintains and maximises use of resources and you reduce waste in value. It also provides opportunities for employment and microbusiness in recycling and re-use of material. It produces more competitive businesses, better priced products and ultimately it makes a much more competitive country for industry.

“For the environment, it reduces load on landfills, and should help clean up dumping. And the more it’s used, the more you save. We really want to try to get people down to zero waste, as the most efficient way of using waste is to internally recycle.”

Already, business ventures exist in the reuse of a number of products considered waste, including plastic and glass bottles, textiles, scrap metal, spare parts and used oil. Many of these use the current Riverton site as their source. Small businesses abound in the recovery of wood for coal, metals for pots, casket handles, wall hangings, platters and ornaments, as well as spare parts. Several of these metal foundries also recycle motor oil for use as fuel. Textiles are also used to make baby clothes and other items. Glass and plastics are collected for recycling, while organic material such as food waste becomes food for animals and sometimes people. With the conversion of the site to a landfill now underway, the site is to be redesigned and organised for maximum effectiveness. These include having specified sections for various types of waste, with a sign in place directing haulers to these areas.

Director of planning with Metropolitan Parks and Markets (MPM), Ann-Marie Rodriques, said the strategy was to approach recycling and reuse from the disposal site rather than the consumer, at least for now. Education and sensitisation programmes are underway to help lay the framework for thinking in an environmentally conscious way.

“Right now we’re trying to establish and enforce some basic co-operation at source. We’re working at the basic level — getting them to put garbage into bags, not littering — before we get into developing programmes that will allow for sorting at source. We have also realised that reaching the young, especially through schools, is important and the returns are greater, because they will reinforce what they learn at home and practice it. But we are currently working with a plan to have material recovery at site to recover useful materials in an organised way.”

This will all be handled formally under the National Solid Waste Management Authority. This entity will take over the waste management functions of the parks and markets companies, which will continue to operate as regional bodies reporting to the authority. A date has not yet been set for when the entity will fully come into force, but the way for its establishment has been paved by the passing of the National Solid Waste Management Act in December. The Authority will be responsible for effectively managing solid waste in Jamaica, public education on safe and efficient waste disposal methods, and advancing public health and safety standards in relation to waste. It will also enforce the standards and regulations for the solid waste sector.

Upgrading and construction work is already underway at Riverton, with the construction of an $11-million scale house which will house a 100-tonne scale to weigh trucks as part of the development of a recording system for waste treated at Riverton City. Administrative and maintenance blocks will also be built. Over $5 million has been earmarked for upgrading work, including the installation of perimeter lights. Equipment has also been bought, including two tractor dozers, a wheel loader, a landfill compactor and tyre baler. The baler, which can handle 400 tyres an hour, will be used to convert tyres, of which there are thousands on site, into rubber blocks through crushing, shredding, wiring and reshaping. This block can then be used in civil engineering works like river training or embankment construction and the construction of play areas for children.

Rodriques says the sanitary landfill is an environmentally sound and aesthetically pleasing solid waste solution. It seeks to protect the environment by putting in measures to protect groundwater and prevent air pollution. While the current site is protected by a natural impermeable clay barrier, a synthetic barrier will be put in place in the expanded area. Remediation work is also being done to the existing area while preparations continue for the landfill. When complete, the site should have no odour, no vectors such as flies and mosquitoes, organised tipping in cells which are covered daily, and no open burning. The leachate or “juices” from the waste will be taken off and treated.

Rodriques says waste reduction and recycling is of great importance particularly on islands like Jamaica, as there is limited space for refuse disposal. An average of 100,000 tonnes of domestic garbage is generated each year — about one kilogramme for each person in Jamaica.

“While we don’t have a crisis, management is important and placement of disposal sites key,” she said. “The aim is to ensure that the impact on the environment is minimal. And waste recycling is useful because it can generate income. It can be the base of economic development, especially for persons who have little or no income. It is already a source of income for quite a number of families. It actually develops a culture of frugality and better management of resources and that can lead to wealth generation. It’s really all about developing a spirit and culture of creativity and reuse.”