Topic: waste management

Government is exploring new collection sites across Grand Cayman as part of its strategy to tackle the problem of what to do with the island’s waste.

Just over 130,000 tons of trash went into the landfill last year with no plan on the horizon either to replace the rapidly expanding facility or to implement a comprehensive national recycling strategy.

A plan to replace Cayman’s landfill site with a suite of waste-to-energy and recycling facilities had snowballed into an ‘unaffordable deal’ that risks ‘bankrupting’ the country, former Finance Minister Chris Saunders has claimed.

Whilst fingers point to local government, accusing it of not doing enough, surely everyone, including tourists, should be playing their part in disposing of waste responsibly.

Today's editorial cartoon

Turning trash into electricity in a waste-to-energy plant is a central part of government’s new national waste management plan, which includes no new landfill site. Jim Schubert, the senior project manager, said the plant would be key to achieving the ambitious target of diverting 95 percent of waste from landfill.

Starting June 1, private collection and recycling company Junk, owned by former Deputy Premier and Minister of Education Rolston Anglin, will no longer service Cayman’s seven recycling depots.