July 22, 2006 – It makes economic sense to divert a good chunk of the territory's solid waste into other uses, according to Waste Management Authority consultant Claudette Young-Hinds, who spoke Saturday at a citizen advisory committee meeting at Julius E. Sprauve School.
Young-Hinds told the five people who gathered for the meeting that a study showed organic matter made up 40 percent of the waste at St. Croix's Anguilla landfill.
"What are we nuts – bringing in wood chips from Iowa?" Young-Hinds asked, inferring that a V.I. business owner could grind up the wood that now goes to the landfill to make wood chips.
St. John has a particular interest in recycling glass, and the St. John Community Foundation has worked for several years to get a glass crusher on line.
Young-Hinds said that crushed glass can be mixed with asphalt to make glassphalt for use in road surfaces, but that despite the abundance of glass suitable for crushing in the Virgin Islands, the Public Works Department continues to use asphalt.
She said that it would take only three major road projects to use up 25 percent of the territory's waste glass if it went into glassphalt.
She said that V.I. businesses need to look at the entire Caribbean rather than just the Virgin Islands when determining its market because 23 million people live in the region.
The citizen advisory committee is charged with providing input into St. John's waste management plan. However, Young-Hinds said it's been hard to get the process under way on St. John, but the citizen advisory committees on the other two islands are just about done with their plans.
"This is the fourth trip to St. John to try and get started," Young-Hinds said.
She said that the agency held an additional public meeting on St. John in June to try to drum up interest.
Because so few people are involved, it means that the five people at the meeting are the only ones having input. Those attending were Sharon Coldren, Mary Blazine, Harry Daniel, Ron Keele and John Levering.
However, the Waste Management Authority will hold public meetings so the public can hear what the agency has planned.
Young-Hinds said the time to plan is now – before the island faces a waste management crisis like St. Croix, which is facing the closure of Anguilla landfill.
"You have a wonderful opportunity to consider the possibilities," she said.
John Green, the Waste Management Authority's program director, said that based on public input, the agency has already implemented some programs on St. John.
He said that the agency brought in a trailer to collect old tires that were languishing at gas stations and rental car agencies. This action came about after businesses were threatened with fines by the Planning and Natural Resources Department for accumulating tires.
Although Planning threatened the fines, the businesses had no viable way to dispose of the tires.
Green also said that the agency is palletizing 1,275 old batteries left at the Susannaberg landfill for shipment off-island.
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