KINGSTON, Jamaica – Recycling Partners of Jamaica (RPJ) hit a new record of $253 million in payout for the return of plastic bottles in February, owing to its continued investment in its logistics and processing capabilities.

Over the past five years, RPJ has intensified its marketing campaign. Simultaneously, it worked on strengthening its relationship with partners and widened its depots to seven, covering the parishes of Kingston, St Thomas, St James, Westmoreland, St Catherine, Trelawny, and St Ann.

Its most recent project was the expansion of the plastic recycling facility in Naggo Head, Portmore, St Catherine.

Overall, RPJ wants to increase the number of recycled plastic drinks and cleaner bottles from the current volumes of roughly 33 per cent or some 280 million bottles to 50 per cent within a year.

It pays an incentive of $50 per kilogramme for bottles redeemed; however, RPJ reportedly collected 20 per cent of plastics through donations.

So far, it has seen steady progress.

“February’s number is the highest we have reported…We are now collecting 2.4 times the volume of bottles we collected a year ago; but one should bear in mind that the retail market for drinks and cleaners continues to grow, so that increased percentage is on a higher denominator,” chairman of the RPJ Dr Damien King told Observer Online.

RPJ is an extended producer organisation and the designated national recycling entity, formed by public and private partnerships with the Government of Jamaica.

Its ultimate goal is to remove 80 per cent of the plastic bottles in the retail trade from the environment which, in part, RPJ will engage with various stakeholders on the diversion of plastic bottles from landfills.

“We are cognisant of the fact that while we are collecting 1/3 of the bottles in the market it means 2/3 are still left out there. Additionally, the market is growing so we know that we have to continue our aggressive rate of capacity and logistic expansion if we are going to continue to catch up with a moving target,” he said.

Accordingly, Dr King says the organisation has plans to install more baler machines at its depots. The equipment will compress and bind the recycling material, making it easier to transport.

RPJ will also open two more depots, one in the parish of Manchester and the other in St Elizabeth, before the close of the year. The depot in Montego Bay is also slated for a major upgrade, Dr King said. RPJ currently has access to 31 trucks and 500 recycle bottle cages islandwide.

“As we expand that not only means more equipment but a larger staff as well. In fact, we have outgrown our head office on Retirement Road in Kingston and so we are looking to move shortly into a new office,” he said.

A budget for the expansion project has not yet been approved. However, RPJ’s capex topped $280 million.

The RJP has had a working relationship with the Government of Jamaica for the past eight years. The Government is on board with the United Nation’s historic resolution to develop a global plastic treaty referred to as the Zero Draft of the Plastics Treaty.

Since the decision to begin negotiations in March 2022, the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) has met every six months. The third round of negotiations was held in Nairobi, Kenya. The legally binding agreement is still in the draft stage.

The world produces more than 430 million tons of plastic annually, and two-thirds of that are products that are disposed of soon after use, becoming waste and often getting into the human food chain, according to the United Nations. Global plastic waste is expected to nearly triple by 2060.

Minister without portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, Senator Matthew Samuda, says Jamaica is on track with global targets for countries to collect and recycle 70 per cent of their plastic waste.

Plastic waste initiatives by the Government include several pilot waste separation projects that have been implemented in various communities with support from the Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF), World Bank, and the Japanese Government, among other partners; along with the ban on single-use plastic.

The target date for the ban on plastic lunch boxes and personal-care products with microplastic beads is June 1.

The Government is also developing a policy on the management of single-use plastic products as well as the separation of waste and recycling of plastics in public entities.

–Karena Bennett