Scrap metal moved from Mt. Trashmore

Fifteen independent truckers worked last week to carry scrap metal from George Town’s landfill to a 300-foot barge alongside the Port Authority dock downtown. Total weight they were expected to move was 6,000 long tonnes, or 13,440,000 pounds.  

Cardinal D. Ltd is buying the scrap for $70 per tonne, according to details of the contract released on the Central Tenders Committee website earlier this year (Caymanian Compass, 21 July). At that rate, the value of the contract would be $420,000. 

Jill Bodden, speaking for Cardinal D, said the metal was headed to Tampa, Florida.  

Cardinal D. won an earlier contract to remove 6,000 tons of scrap in May 2010, paying the government $50 per tonnes for the scrap metal, which was shipped to China. 

According to the most recent contract tender document, the contract involves the removal of loose, unprocessed or semi-processed appliances, between 1,500 and 2,500 derelict vehicles, fuel tanks, tire rims, metal furniture, fixtures, construction debris and other items containing metal such as brass, copper, aluminium, steel, tin, and cast iron. 

Loading of the barge began on Sunday, 30 October, at midday. Completion of the process was dependent on cruise ship traffic. By late Monday afternoon, when Acting Premier Juliana O’Connor-Connolly visited the operation, 42 truckloads had been deposited that day. The 786 tonnes accumulated at that stage were neatly stacked along the walls of the barge, leaving the centre clear for trucks to drive aboard, reverse and drop their loads for heavy equipment operators to push or lift into neat piles. 

Ms O’Connor-Connolly, who was accompanied by Chief Officer Kearney Gomez, spoke at length with the workers on the barge and with Mr. Bodden, who was supervising truck traffic from the dock.  

The Central Tenders Committee received eight tenders for the scrap metal removal contract in February. The tender invitation included the removal of scrap metal from the dumps on Cayman Brac and Little Cayman.