#Kingston, March 29, 2019 – Jamaica – Government Senator, Matthew Samuda, is reaffirming the Government’s commitment to pursuing initiatives that will encourage proper waste management practices.
Among these, he said,
is the Plastic Bottle Refund Deposit Scheme, which is slated to come on stream
early in the 2019/20 fiscal year. It is intended to reduce littering and
encourage recycling.
“It is about 15 per cent
of our waste that is plastic and bottle, so one of the things that will come on
stream this year is that we will monetise the value of plastic… and you will be
able to get back that value when you bring a bottle in,” Mr. Samuda informed.
“We expect in five
years to target 85-90 per cent of the plastic bottles that are being produced
and consumed each year. We’ve seen it work in Rwanda and Norway very well, so
we are putting in place what’s necessary,” he added.
The deposit refund
scheme will allow for the application of a deposit on plastic bottles placed on
the market and a cash rebate to the consumer on the return of these to
designated redemption centres islandwide.
This scheme will be
implemented by a reconstituted Recycling Partners Jamaica Limited. Participating
private-sector stakeholders have instituted a self-imposed cess of $1 per
bottle, to start, which will see an initial private-sector investment of $850
million in the first year.
Senator Samuda was
speaking during a panel discussion at this year’s staging of the Youth Climate
Action Expo, hosted by the Jamaica Climate Change Youth Council (JCCYC) at
Campion College on March 16.
The expo was held
under the theme ‘Staying above the Tide: Jamaica After the Plastic Ban’. The panel discussion focused on topics
such as solid waste management, climate change and renewable energy.
Senator Samuda also
informed that in the next fiscal year, some 100 new garbage trucks will be added
to the National Solid Waste Management Authority’s (NSWMA) fleet. He also noted that several initiatives are being
undertaken, to increase the use of renewable energy.
“There are a couple
of things that are already taking place. There is a project for 50 schools to
receive solar energy to reduce both their carbon footprint and energy costs.
That is being coordinated by the National Education Trust and the Development
Bank of Jamaica,” Senator Samuda said.
“There is the listing
of Wigton [Wind Farm] on the Stock Exchange to raise additional capital that will
allow for greater expansion on that facility and our wind energy production
will go up significantly. Another project, which I think is nearing completion,
is the Eight Rivers [Energy Company] solar plant in Westmoreland,” he added.
For her part, JCCYC Director
and Founder, Eleanor Terrelonge, stressed the need for Jamaicans to develop a
culture of separating their garbage.
“We can separate our
garbage, recycle what we can recycle and then an option for organic waste is
composting. A lot of persons are moving [in this direction], and composting has
its own benefits because it can be reused as fertiliser,” she stated.
The parent body of
the JCCYC, the Jamaica Climate Change Advisory Board (JCCAB), in its community
engagement activities, works with the NSWMA and other organisations to further
heighten waste management sensitisation and awareness.
“The JCCYC worked
with the Jamaica Rural Economy and Ecosystems Adapting to Climate Change (Ja
REEACH) Project and community groups in Portland for a few weeks on a solid waste
sensitisation campaign,” Communication Coordinator at the JCCAB, Dainalyn Swaby
said.
She added that “we
had implemented some garbage enclosures and skips in the community. The
community groups invited the NSWMA and they had a session on the types of waste
and how to sort it”.
Meanwhile, Chief
Executive Officer, Environmental Solutions Limited, Eleanor Jones, pointed to
the need to mitigate sea-level rise.
“We have our airports
and ports, our power plants and so on in coastal areas. We are going to have to
look at moving back from the shore zone, and for some of the infrastructure,
retrofitting to elevate where we can,” she stated.
“Also, with sea-level
rise, we have to think about our coastal aquifers, because as the levels rise,
that saline water moves in, and we already have contamination of our coastal
aquifers. So it’s a real issue for us,” she added.
Jamaica’s middle-income
economy classification from the United Nations excludes the country from
funding allocated by G7 and G20 countries, to undertake certain infrastructural
projects.
“The truth is, we
know the projects that need to be done, and we are doing the ones that we can
afford to do as we can afford to do them. But we won’t be able to make those
necessary moves until that financing arrangement changes,” Senator Samuda
explained.
By: Charnele Henry
Release: JIS