The State of Recycling in the Caribbean

Litter on Caribbean beaches may be three times the global average by some research, and plenty more trash makes its way to the sea and ocean surrounding the land. Meanwhile the region’s recycling rates are in the low single digits; trash that does not end up along the coastline or in water stockpiles on landfills, some of which are already past capacity.

Three professionals trying to jumpstart waste management practices in this tropical corner of the world joined on April 25 to discuss current waste management conditions where they live and work and what needs to happen to improve them. Speakers Ronald Roach, director of Water and Waste Services at Unite Caribbean; Majeed Mohammed, COO at SMCL Investments Trinidad; and Nalini Sooklal, co-founder of Recycling Partners of Jamaica, took center stage (remotely) at a webinar facilitated by be Waste Wise, a non-profit organization working to build a global waste management community through education, grants, and consultancy.

One recurring theme throughout the presentation was that collaboration and regional approaches are key to making headway. Other points were that there are times and circumstances where innovation is a must, as well as scenarios where sticking with what’s tried and true is the best approach. They expounded on financing of recycling projects. And they punctuated the urgency to act now to control an escalating waste problem in a fast-growing urban space with heavy tourist traffic.

Early on, Mohammed spoke of securing funding and financing, work he knows well, as the startup he leads operations for is proposing to construct a post-consumer polyethylene terephthalate (PET) recycling facility in Trinidad and Tobago.

Getting financing is an arduous job, especially in a part of the world that’s early in its work to advance circularity.

“Most finance institutions consider recycling projects to be high risk, so finding an investor to come in on the equity side is hard,” Mohammed said.

They want to see heavy collateral and contracts for both feedstock and offtakers, and project developers are hard pressed to provide the details requested, especially with regard to available supply at a given time.  Further, potential investors expect government input.

With these and other expectations the process of securing monies has been long and slow.

“It can happen, but we have to continue pushing forward, which is what we are trying to do,” Mohammed said.

Moderator Sian Cuffy-Young, a waste management educator and social entrepreneur expounded. “We need money to be long and patient.” It takes creativity to know where to go for funding, and it requires reaching out to more than traditional financial institutions, she said.

Sooklal shared Jamaica’s experience, highlighting work to get buy in from plastic bottle manufacturers to bring back and recycle bottles.

“What drew me to this project is that this work was done voluntarily where [producers] put money where their mouths are and realize they have responsibility,” she said.

Jamaica is unique compared to some remote islands in that it can pay money for bottles and for collection bins, but there is work to do to get residents on board across communities.

“If there are many programs and pilots and different rules the public gets fatigued. So, ministries have to be in touch with EPR [programs] … the key is unified messaging, so the public is not confused, and they are motivated,” Sooklal said.

Presenters paused on the problem of insufficient resources pointing out that each island can’t support its own recycling plant due to limited supplies, and shipping plastics would come with exorbitant costs.

So, a public and private approach, across multiple islands, and with all impacted parties joining in conversations, is important. They should work together to iron out details such as who will pay for what expense, to identify goals and ways to reach for them. 

Start to plan for recycling projects with an end goal in mind, said Roach, who has been involved in recycling projects and strategic planning in several Caribbean countries.

“What are you trying to accomplish? To increase the life of landfills? To have a cleaner  society? Once you know, you can determine what you want to get involved in.”

Mohammed said his operation is open to partnering with anyone in the industry to avoid duplicating efforts and to “take recycling to the next level.”

He expressed interest in working with “anyone interested in collecting bottles.” The plan would be to sell materials back to bottlers.  There would be logistics involved such as importing resins in flat sheets to make containers.

Speakers moved on to technology.

“We need to be innovative with ideas [around public and private partnerships and education], but with [recycling] technology it is necessary to stay with what’s tried and trusted,” Roach said.

A simple approach is best, he thought, and he leaned toward mechanical recycling as the way to go. Though he said there is some interest in chemical recycling and reason to explore these technologies.

Regional collaboration came up again.

“We are too small [as island communities] to work in silos. We can do more together but we have to move fast,” Cuffy-Young said.

“Time is going by, and effects are becoming cumulative. We have to move into action a lot faster.”