St. Maarten Private Eye

The way to get your message across for the general public is to sent this comment to the local newspaper. It is only when they are expose or contronfted with these type of recommendation they might do something about it.

We caught this today, I will post it on the SXM Pride thread too.

Island 92 - Willem Dekker Show - Jadira Veen talks about hillside excavations - 30th January 2007

While on the one hand I would not expect the NF to turn down such an offer to raise funds, $5000 comes in handy for a small poorly funded foundation. But Heineken would get alot more respect from me if they came out and supported a deposit system.
Naturally they could not just do it alone and it would put an unfair advantage to other brands. But if they supported the concept so it was across the board then perhaps there might be some movement in that direction. As it is, the lack of deposits on bottles is doing far more damage than $5000 can fix.

Heineken, nature groups to protect environment - 31st January 2007

Flipper

Flipper, I agree with you.
I would support the beer that starts the refund and deposit system.. That beer importer would become my beer of choice. Funny thing is yesterday someone told me that what is the use of selling plastic bracelets? Plastic will end up at the landfill anyway eventually. And what will Nature foundation do with the monies? Will they be then picking up all discared Heineken beer bottles from the streets and sending them back for recycling?
So Heineken gets away with selling plastic bracelets for 2 nature groups and they can continue neglecting the fact that the green bottles are littering our streets and beaches?
I do not buy it, neither do the smart sxm people.
From this money that nature foundation will be making, how much of this money will be going directly to eliminating the littered beer bottle problem?
I would much rather prefer to pay Heineken $2.- and they make sure that they send the empty bottles back to Holland or to an island in the Caribbean that can re-use the bottles, such as TING in Jamaica did for years.

Heinken Group makes enough money in the world, if they so wish and care about the environment which they help to pollute why dont they put their money where their mouth is and make a donation. Those bands is another means of pollution and a means of advertising for them at your expence...

To keep their dirty money.
Come on folks. Isn't it better to have a corporate citizen take part in a campaign to raise awareness than to have them ignore it? It is a start.
A deposit system is a great idea and would work as is proven by the fact that empty Heineken bottles were rarely seen when they had value off island. But why make Heineken responsible for a logistics headache that they don't want when there is a business that can be started by recycling glass.
Think about it.
BTW the N.F. would use none of these funds to collect bottles but is heavily involved in educational programs with the youth where funds are needed and well used.
R.L.
N.F. boardmember

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

basically the same thing. Heineken should be helping to find solutions to the problem, instead it seems they are srugging their shoulders and saying there is not much that can be done. I think most of us here know how big corporations work and have very good reasons to be cynical about the band program.

LH above lays it out quite well above, most of the money donated will be coming from people who buy them, not Heineken themselves, except maybe the cost of the bands. Who knows, this is not clear at all. What they get is their promotional bands all over the place on peoples wrists advertising for them. Then they get the public good will as this program gives the impression Heineken cares about SXM's environment and they get lots of PR out of it in the media.

What does it cost them for this?

How much is their product costing the island's environment?

The more I think about it and I reread the article again, the more I think that the attitude of 'there is nothing much we can do' is just not good enough. The issue and problem needs to be dealt with and they need to think again and decide to be part of finding that solution.

I too am sure the NF will put the money to good use and of course they should take it, I said so in my post above and know you will put it to good use. What the NF does is different to SXM Pride, and of course the situation of one enviro foundation collecting donations from a company whilst another foundation goes around pickingup after that company is awkward to address. Please do not think that the criticism is aimed in anyway at the NF, I say take the money and use it to promote recycling in our schools, especially bottle recycling.

One last thing, while we have a NF member reading. What does the NF think about recycling and deposits? I am sure you also see that glass is a problem that needs to be addressed, if only because our dump is full.

Would the Nature Foundation or anyone else out there have a copy of the TNO report?

Flipper

PS, If anyone knows anyone from Carib and what their position is then please let us know, or them know to come and tell us.

Recycling is always preferable to adding to our waste problem. I have never specifically discussed this issue with the N.F. but it's a no brainer.
I also read the comments by the Heineken rep and shook my head in bisbelief at his comments. Sounds to me like a guy that was bluffing his way through a topic he probably should have deligated to someone else. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt.
Some good may come out of this as Trinidad has a bottle manufacturing plant that may be interested. If its going to work though it will have to be a private initiative. Probably best to forget deposits and just offer to buy back glass by the pound.
I can tell you for sure that Netco would be interested in getting involved in any program that is beneficial to the island. I'm sure if this was taken up the ladder at Heineken they also would be interested.
!,000,000 cases a year of beer currently circulate through St. Maarten. Then throw in the other glass products and it becomes more feasable.
Give me some time and I will put together some information on getting it started.
R.L.

Here are a couple of helpful sites. there are many, many more.

Glass Aggregate Systems

GLASS RECYCLING BEST PRACTICES

I will try and provide some more local information at a later date.
R.L.

Good idea. I applaud any comments that has to do with recycling. Any recycling is a positive note toward protecting mother earth. We can be also a community that not only brings out the truth but we also can use it to support those that might want to embark on any thing which is positive for the island and the people. I support those that take an idea and make it work. Your site not only is being used to tell the truth but also to do good for others. Keep the good work.

I agree again with Flipper's point of view.
The main statement that pissed me off in the TODAY article is the manager said that it costs money to buy gas for the boat which is bad for the environment, he said this regarding the point of sending the bottles back.
However doesn't it also cost money to import those same containers? the same boats run on gas which is bad for the environment.
Heineken's advertising that they are a green company is totaly crap, the reality is that Heineken is bottled in a green bottle and these bottles are littered all over the island.
it is a good thing that PE does not accept advertsing, otherwise we would not be able to discuss this issue here as Heineken would be the first sponsor with the idea to control the web about their company.