St. Maarten Private Eye

Just give the darn contract to SWM, and get it done with. Geeeeeeeeeeeez..do we really need to go thru all this "poppashow"?

Well, it was breaking news a few years ago that the dump would be full by 2007, but of course the main man Roy did sweet FA except leave Theo with a mess. Tthe environmental groups have been talking about the need for processing and recycling for years now too, a simple crusher for glass would have been a very easy step to make, we could have buried most of it under the Westin and lined all the trenches for utilities as they now do on the French side.

The environment is becoming very important in EU policies and assistance, perhaps Theo should be looking there for help and solutions. If Theo is really serious then there is really no better man for the job than Paul Mooij, he can help write the new environmental laws SXM so desperately needs and he is highly knoweldgable about waste solutions.

I have my doubts about how a fee can be collected fairly, you would need an army of collectors to collect it. It might be a better idea to employ inspectors instead, to make garbage seperation a responsibility of residents and to issue fines to those who don't do it. It would take a few years to really kick in and lay down the infrastructure, but sorting garbage is a habit that people will grow into if there are consequences, just like wearing seatbelts. Perhaps the govt also has to consider an environmental duty on all imports, related to the waste those imports produce, now that we have Marcel Gumbs as coordinator with the FS maybe we can start to see some REAL cooperation in the future? St. Maarten also has an opportunity with the New Status to reform and restructure it's tax system, disributing it more fairly and closing the many many loopholes.

Just some quick thoughts...

Theo - Dumpsite full, collection must include processing - 30th July 2007

Flipper

I commend Theo for making those frank remarks in the SMN news article. And I am happy to see that he is speaking about recycling and composting and not about an incinerator as Roy was so adamant about. St.Maarten can pull off the recycling and composting venture as long as everyone and every stakeholder is involved and educated. The fees for garbage processing must be afordable for every household and somehow added to a utility bill so that every household is bound to pay.
I am hereby offering to the Commissioner of Environment/ROB/VROM/Public Works, the support of the Sint Maarten PRIDE foundation. PRIDE can help educate the school students, youth groups and the community at large about the benefits of recycling and composting.
The foundation has been educating students about waste matters and anti-littering since it's inception in 2000.
This issue needs serious and fast thinking, evaluations, and policy writings and in my opinion a two year community educational process (community will need to be constantly educated as well) in a hurry and we know that anything done by government is never in a hurry. For this issue we will need all hands on deck and fast if we are to beat the capacity deadline of Mount Dump.

Many years ago I lived in a community that collected garbage pick up fees by selling special garbage bags. The bags were large, bright blue and printed with the town's seal. The bags were available in all grocery and convenience stores. The price was just a little more than the standard brand black bags. The extra few dollars per box paid for the collection because the community-run garbage collectors would only pick up garbage packed in the bright blue bags.
This type of system would not be too hard to implement and could help defray current collection costs. Of course it has to go hand-in-hand with a proper recycling program - or as close to a proper one as SXM could manage.
In the meantime, where are all of those canvas grocery bags featured in the papers a couple months ago? That's a great idea but I have yet to see them available for purchase in a shop. We could make a substantial dent in the amount of garbage we produce by using those instead of those horrible plastic bags.

Hi SXMPE reader,

The bags are available at Sangs, Furla, Royal Palm Deli, Island Pet Store, Guavaberry, Electec, Dalle's Gift Store at Port (mostly tourists) and Mazinga in Statia. They can only be sold at shops that have agreed to sell them. I have approached other stores who refuse to call or email me back. If you would like one, please let me know. My father or mother are the ones handling the sales for me until I return to the island. I can be contacted at ludmila.deweever@gmail.com or you can call Tessy on 542-9958 or Leroy on 542-2963.

Hope this helps.

Kind regards,

Ludmila

I must confess that I have not yet looked for the canvas shopping bags because I always use my shopping plastic bags for garbage as well. UNTIL I learnt that it takes approximately 1000 years for a typical plastic bag to decompose. So, with that frightening knowledge and considering that I have contributed to thousands and thousands of years of polution, I just ordered my first pack of biodegradable garbage bags from www.ecoproducts.com. They are made from corn and other recycled materials. I have also just purchased our first case of biodegradable shopping bags for our business.
Now I can go out and look for my canvas shopping bag!
Susy