WITH THE LIFESPAN of the Mangrove landfill almost at an end, Government is urgently looking for new methods of disposing of the island's garbage.

One medium-term solution would be the use of the $45 million Greenland Landfill in St Andrew for the disposal of non-toxic waste which has been processed at the Vaucluse transfer plant in St Thomas.

Minister of Health Dr David Estwick made the comments to the media yesterday after touring several facilities, including the Greenland landfill project.

"I am happy I came to Greenland because now . . . I can appreciate fundamentally where Greenland needs to be used and how.

"The decision of what we will finally do with Greenland will be made after I pull all of the teams in place to have a discussion with all the stakeholders.

"Because, again, there needs to be some legislative parameters that need to be discussed as a matter of urgency.

"But I will say this, in the scheme of where Barbados is at this stage in terms of how it manages its solid waste and municipal waste in general, we need a facility so as to take some of the pressure off of Mangrove Landfill which is almost at the end of its life cycle.

"So unless Barbadians want to keep the garbage at home, we have to find some place to put it.

Sustainable

"What we therefore need to do is not to be rushed but to make sure that the decision that we take is one that is sustainable and one that will not hurt the environment . . . but at this stage, I am not going to be very specific," he said.

Estwick said that as soon as the Estimates Debates, which begin on Monday, were completed, he would meet with stakeholders and consultants, including those involved with Greenland and the Vaucluse transfer station, to make decisions, specifically on the landfill as well as other solid waste management.

However, the minister was very specific about the leachate treatment plant which is to be built on the Greenland site.

"I will say this, I am going to be looking at what we are going to be doing to get that leachate treatment plant built. That is what I am going to say because I understand the problems at Mangrove landfill," he reasoned.

He added that Government would pursue "with a matter of urgency" getting "semi-hazardous" waste like old tyres out from the dumps – whether they are sent overseas to be recycled or utilised as fuel locally.

Within the next 18 months, he said, he would work with his "colleagues" to cut through "the red tape and get the set of frameworks put in quickly".

"What I saw (yesterday) indicated to me clearly that we need to take a new look at the legislation that deals with recycling in Barbados.

Incentives

"We have to look at fiscal incentives programmes; we need to look at adjusting the Returnable Containers Act, as a matter of urgency; as well as at whatever mechanisms are needed to promote not only the reuse, but the recycling of all aspects of glass bottles and so on."

* tracymoore @nationnews.com