Basseterre, St. Kitts, April 23, 2021 (SKNIS): The Government of St. Kitts and Nevis, through the Department of Environment, is spearheading a recycling project aimed at reducing waste, enhancing sustainability, and promoting a healthy environment.

The project, which will be done in collaboration with the Republic of China (Taiwan) and Solid Waste Management Corporation, will investigate and analyze recycling systems in St. Kitts and Nevis, draft strategies, promote and encourage separation of waste, as well as set up demonstrations.

“There are plans that perhaps in the next two to three months we are undertaking a project to introduce some recycling. I am also aware that Solid Waste would be doing something similar, so we have been in touch with our partners because we do not want to duplicate,” said Sharon Rattan, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Environment, during her appearance on Working for You on April 21. “We want to complement each other and that coincides with our plans for the phased ban because even though we may ban, what do we do with the plastics?”

Kenney Manning of the Sustainable Destination Council in the Ministry of Tourism, touched briefly on Admiral’s Enterprise Ltd., noting that it has instituted some level of recycling.

“They, more or less, collect bottles and plastic materials and put them in a container and ship them overseas. I know there is also an initiative being done in Nevis by some students and teachers who collect plastics and send them down to Admiral’s,” said Mr. Manning. “It is a slow process, but hopefully in time we will get a more efficient system.”

The officials noted that recycling is extremely important because waste has a huge negative impact on the environment. Recycling helps to reduce the pollution caused by waste, as well as offers an important environmental benefit by reducing emissions of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and chlorofluorocarbons – all of which contribute to environmental degradation.