St. Maarten Private Eye

Hey RL.

I think the point is this. Heineken have come out against deposits and recycling because they say it is not financially viable. I think there are many people that disagree with this statement and others that the rep made, I know I question it.

The basic principles of reycling bottles here will involve a deposit, 10c as mentioned by SXM Pride is a good number to start with. this is $2.40 a case, which gives empty bottles a value, making it more likely people will return them, kids will collect them. This is not a price increase, it's a deposit, but i am sure some beer companies will see it like that. There is some validity to his argument about shipping them, sometimes the cost, not only in money, of recycling is more that it is worth. But there are other solutions and uses.

If for example we had a crusher and program 10 years ago, the crushed glass could have been used as a replacement for gravel in such uses as road beds, utility trench fill, and drainage material. Think the GEBE underground cable project, Link 1 and Oysterpond road.

I want to assure you that I do not doubt the NF will put the money to good use as it is vitally important our youth grows up with an understanding and respect for nature. The grumbles I have are that for Heineken it is mainly a vehicle for PR, they are not really donating a great deal because most will come from sales of the bands. Compared to the damage and problems their product is causing the island, it's virtually meaningless.

I have spoken with an insider at Presidente, they are all for recycling and even a deposit system, Santo Domingo want them to. They would be very interested in being part of discussions on how to deal with the problem of bottles on the island, however they stress that any solution has to be balanced, not only with the various beer brands, but also on both sides of the island.

So, we have one out of 3 willing to sit and talk about solutions and one saying there is none. Perhaps we should ask Carib what they think.

There is a crusher on the French side, Presidente bottles could go back to SD, Carib could go back to Trinidad and if it is too expensive to be worthwhile shipping Heineken back to Holland then we can use it to build our roads on, perhaps even use it as fill instead of digging out hillsides.

There's a marketing slogan "St. Maarten - Built on Heineken.

Local Hero