The Companies that pick up your trash want you to throw away less. Exuma Waste Management and Island Waste Management have teamed together to start “Recycle Exuma”. This project aims to reduce the solid waste going into the Sanitary Landfill in Steventon by 50% in five years, and reduce the long-term costs of managing the land fill. The Department of Environmental Health Services contracts these c
ompanies to collect and dispose of solid waste at the landfill. The current rate of solid waste accumulation will cost everyone more money if recycling initiatives are not put into place. In Exuma, every person generates about seven pound of trash per day, with all of this material going into the landfill forever. Landfills take up valuable land resources, and have to be managed indefinitely to control pollution, fires and environmental health hazards. The government has long considered incineration or burning of trash in Nassau to manage the mountains of solid waste. Some countries like the Dominican Republic have turned to burning waste to generate electricity. Unfortunately, the burning of trash, especially plastics can lead to the release of toxins in the air. Until the air pollution issue can be dealt with, incineration is on hold. Just burying trash in the landfill creates other problems like water contamination, health hazards in mosquitoes and rats, as well as using up public land. Recycling initiatives can substantially reduce the costs of the Landfill management over the next 12 years (to 2023). The initial voluntary phase of “Recycle Exuma” is aimed at second-home owners; many visiting residents from the USA or Canada are accustomed to sorting their trash into recyclable and non-recyclable material. The new recycling coordinator, Ms. Sharlaine Adderly-Lloyd stated, “We are asking everyone to think about what they throw away each day, and voluntarily recycle glass, cans and plastics in these new blue recycling bins”. Voluntary recycling along with composting organic wastes is essential to reduce pollution loading at the Landfill site. The Landfill site in Steventon now requires a new cell, this is essentially another large hole to be filled with all of the household trash generated. Solid waste is buried and left forever as a trash mountain in Steventon. The Steventon landfill has been under contract to Exuma Waste Management since 2004. There is a single cell that is nearing completion, with an estimated 16,235 tons of solid waste accumulated since 2004. Currently, almost 3000 tons of solid waste is deposited annually at the Landfill. According to the 2010 census (Government of The Bahamas, Department of Statistics), Great Exuma and the Cays were the fastest growing region in the country from 2000 to 2010. Solid waste accumulation is expected to increase, especially with the re-opening of the Emerald Bay Resort by Sandals. The monthly mean solid waste delivered at the Landfill in 2010 was 265 tons! Trash does not have to take a one-way trip to the landfill; recycling can provide new economic opportunities, and allow for the re-use of materials locally. The Recycle Exuma project will start taking clean and sorted wastes from residents that include:
-All types of glass
-All types of cans (aluminium and metal)
-All types of plastic containers, wrappers, and water bottles. Exuma Waste Management, Ltd. and Island Waste Management, Ltd. have proposed an initial five year plan that will focus on the recycling and reuse of several trash items around the island in a partnership with the Department of Environmental Health Services, Local Government the Exuma Foundation and the Bahamas National Trust chapter on Great Exuma.
