Grenada launches big waste management project
ST GEORGE’S, Grenada (CMC) — Grenada yesterday launched a US$10.7-million integrated solid waste management project with Environment Minister Roland Bhola indicating that Grenadians can’t shy away from the fact that the existing facility “has been a sore issue for any years”.
Bhola said he was now joining nationals in hoping for “expediency in laying the groundwork necessary for the part of this project that would see us break new ground for commencement of the landfill development.
“We cannot shy away from the fact that our existing Perseverance facility has been a sore issue for many years and this project offers us hope for a solution we have being looking for,” he said.
With a waste stream that has grown in the past 15 years by over 10,000 tonnes, Bhola said that waste diversion initiatives should not be regarded only as an option.
“We ought to begin to think creative and work towards the birth of new industries out of waste. Out of such challenges can emerge greater opportunities when waste is seen as a resource,” he told the launch ceremony.
Addressing Parliament shortly after delivering the address, Bhola told legislators that a public education programme will soon be launched aimed at encouraging and enforcing waste separation among householders.
The Grenada Solid Waste Management Authority (GWMSA) will be the implementing agency for the multimillion-dollar project that is funded by the Barbados-based Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) and the Clinton Foundation.
GWMSA public relations officer, Myrna Julien, said one of the outcomes of the project is the closure of the existing dump site at Perseverance, which was commissioned since the 1960s.
The project will involve a number of initiatives, including a study on waste resources as well as the commissioning of new waste cell close to the current location.
CDB Division Chief, Andrew Dupigny, said that though Grenada has a broad-based legislation with regards to solid waste management and there has been great improvement over the years, notable challenges remain especially for alternative to dumping.
“The outcome therefore of this project is improving solid waste management,” he added.
