As dump grows, Brackers urged to learn the three R’s
(CNS): An initiative launched on Grand Cayman by all the service clubs to encourage people to recycle has now spread to Cayman Brac. Reduce (avoid buying stuff with a lot of packaging), reuse (find other ways to use items when you’re done with them) and recycle – the three R’s – is the critical message that has now been presented by representatives from the “Join In” campaign to all the students on the Brac at the primary and high schools and at the UCCI campus, as well as Brac service clubs and anyone else interested. As the dump on the south side of the Brac grows, now almost reaching the height of the Bluff, residents are asked to collect aluminium cans and put them in the bins around the Brac and to start collecting glass and plastic, even though these are not yet recycled on the island.
The service clubs recognised that recycling needs to happen on all three islands but the project is just too big for a single club, Kiwanis President Kadi Pentney (pictured above at the Brac dump) told CNS when she and Rotary Sunrise President, JD Mosley-Matchett, came to the Brac to fire up Brackers to start recycling.
There are Department of Environmental Health (DEH) recycling bins for aluminium cans all over the island: at all three primary schools, Panama Canal Park, Kirkconnell’s Market, Billy's Supermarket, West End (RUBIS) Texaco, the Market Place, Brac Snack Shack and at the West End Community Park.
Residents are urged to collect all their cans and dump them in the bins; it’s OK to keep them in the plastic bags they are collected in, just stop putting them in with the rest of the garbage so that they just go to the landfill site, Pentney and Mosley-Matchett said.
“People are ready to recycle but they don't know what to do,” Pentney said, noting that most people don’t even notice that the recycling bins are there until it’s pointed out to them.
The “Join In” initiative is keen to work with the DEH in their efforts and have asked the DEH representative on the Brac, Thomas Augustine, what they can do to help. One way they want to do this is to find ways to keep glass and some plastic out of the Brac dump. While these materials are already being recycled on Grand Cayman, this has not yet begun on the Brac, and the service clubs are making efforts to coordinate with the private recycling companies and the DEH to get this going.
They are hoping that the companies will supply some of the bins required – they need about six – but are also looking for sponsors. The bins are around $250 each and sponsors can put their logo on them for additional advertising.
In the meantime, they are asking Brackers to start separating and collecting plastic bottles (without the caps) and glass as well as beer and soda cans, so that they can demonstrate the need and show that they are willing to participate.
Ideally, the Brac should have its own glass crusher, and the campaign is hoping that they can find a sponsor or someone to raise funds to buy one. Currently, glass collected on Grand Cayman goes to the Dart glass crusher to be reused and sold for construction.
The cans collected on Cayman Brac are sent to Grand Cayman. The aluminium cans and some plastics collected on Grand Cayman are crushed, baled and, when they have a full container, sent to Miami and sold.
“One person can make a difference,” Pentney said, “because they can encourage other people to recycle. One child can become a whole class, and then a whole school.”
Find out more about recycling on Cayman Brac
Category: Science and Nature
While I can accept that recycled resources that are shipped off the islands to be properly turned into something else is a noteworthy & viable concern , crushing glass bottles & throwing that on the ground here is not. The only way to recycle glass, is to be crushed , then melted into other glass products. But this takes considerable management to separate the different types of glass.
crushed glass is used in asphalt mix for roads….works great.
Yes. I suggested this before the great Pave-O-Rama that took pace and still going on on the Brac. It would've been great to have acquired a glass crusher and the traing and PPE to have made it happen.
I continue to recycle our aluminum cans. Perhaps my next shed will be made from lifts of Heiniken bottles. Love the color.
Increase duty on single-use plastic cups, plates, forks etc until most people can no longer afford them. As I keep saying, no business (bar, restaurant etc) should be allowed to make use of those pesty plastic things………..In Europe, they manage to have festivals with over 100 thousand visitors without the use of any single-use plastic cups and dishes……..
Every hotel and business MUST have the new recycling bins available that can be obtained at the DOEH. We have one in our office and people DO use them. Every little bit helps!
Guess we're not in Europe any more, Toto! But your idea is right.
When I moved here Cayman Brac Full Time 17 years ago, I separated all my garbage, glass, cans, but when I put out for pick up. The guys threw it all in back of the truck together. This went on for weeks so we took a ride to the dumps. Saw it all together in one pile. I just gave up then…..Where I came from we had different cans for recyclables & gargage. But here they just do Not Care !!
Here's a story:riding with a friend one day, he threw a bottle out the car window. I stopped yelled at him made him pick it up, so he said Why (?) that's what PW guys get paid for?? Now that is Plain Stupid.
We lve in a Beautifu Place let's keep it that way !!
Large quantities of PCBs have been placed in landfill sites, mainly in the form of transformers and capacitors. Many municipal sites are not designed to contain these pollutants, and thus PCBs are able to escape into the atmosphere or groundwater
Many transformers were dumped in our landfill Thus they will not touch MT Trashmore due to the legal costs
Mount Trashmore ll. What a shame.
Recycling by expats is not allowed It is a Violation of their work permit
this place is messed up
It is the latest game being played
Learning the 3 Rs is one thing, actually putting into practice is another thing entirely. Some developed countries have taken 15 to 20 years to sucessfully implement the 3 Rs. How long will it take Cayman if we seriously start now? The movement towards wholistically managing our waste has started in the best place, with the future generation of Caymanians.
Schools, should be devoting at least 15 minutes out of every school day to how other places deal with their waste responsibly. Hey, if we are lucky maybe one of our own may win a science fair project award for a novel approach to deal with our waste. And if we are really, really lucky CIG may even implement it in the future. Let's hope the this movement grows much faster than our waste problem.
As a part time resident on the Brac and a visitor for nearly 25 years it continues to astonish me that there is virtually NO recycling done here. I have made this point before that all the Brac supplies come over by barge which in turn returns to Grand almost empty!!!. How difficult would it be to have seperate containers at the dump for glass and cans which could be loaded onto the barge and then soldfor scrap. Cayman is so FAR FAR behind the rest of the western World with recycling. The dump on the Brac is yet another eyesore along with the old Divi hotel, which by the way did not close because of Paloma!!. So a lovely sailing cruise ship calls in, people get taken on tours, they don't want to see huge piles of old cars, fridges etc. and a falling down Hotel!! that is plain to see from the road!.
These recycling bins in supermarkets are in wrong place as no one see the bins. It had to be at the entry to car parks and drive through like rest of the world. Bins need be in bright colours to catch people eyes.
The Recycling people from Grand Cayman have been buying and shipping material from the Brac for almost a year now and have removed almost 100 tons.
Reuse and Renew /Recycling services just removed 20 tons over the last 3 weeks from the Brac
This year so far Reuse and Renew has shipped almost 1 million pounds of recycle material from Grand and the Brac to Miami
Perhaps its time to realize that there are professionals doing what you all dream about .
Those Cans that are shipped from the Brac and Grand while this is an achievement
Anyone can foolishly loose money doing recycling inproperly.
Maybe ask for some help with your project
That Said people make a good living collecting recycle material and your endevors are taking food off of the plates of those that need it most.
It is an insult to the 5 RECYCLING companys and the 100's of active recyclers that you dont acknowledge that we exist.
Well you need more exposure on TV and Radio, let people know what's happening and tell them what the money from recycling is being used for!!!.
There is another “hill” of metal scrap over in Little Cayman. Hopefully the recyclers can get government approval to remove this.
Note to Govt: It is a hill of scrap, not gold. Just let them take it. Please.
Tropical will not allow the scrap metals on there ship thus it cant move off little cayman
Tropical does not serve Little Cayman. All cargo is shipped by Thompson Shipping. The barge is usually full of empty containers on the return trip to Grand Cayman.
Thompson line is an agent for tropical and does not operate containers they provide the barge and the billing for tropical, and the tropical containers are the containers used in little cayman
you will not find hyde or seaboard containers in little cayman only tropical containers
So stop trying to twist the truth
and another thing the barge is usually filled with stone or sand when returning not just empty.
I hope the recycle programmes from the Brac are not having to pay for shipping on the Thompson barge back to Grand Cayman…especially since the barge is empty coming back. Anybody know the answer ??
Thompson line will do everything they can but the fact is Dart will not allow the material in his sea containers and to send a private container there for the job cannot happen Sorry we tried
Fact is, you are either a liar or an ill informed oaf.
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/business/tropical-shipping-beng-sold-to-seattle-based-compa/nfTJn/
http://www.greenfiber.com/newscontent.aspx?id=66
http://www.cansforkidsbahamas.info/goal.php
Liar and oaf?
Are you saying Dart dosn't own AGL Energy? The owner of Tropical.
or are you saying Dart dose not own saltchuck resources the upcoming owner of tropial?
Or are you saying something else
If you want to know about the scrapmetal in his ships NOT coming from cayman
thats real easy just call and ask
I wont cut and past selective articles like you. Anyone can look up tropical and agl and see the truth
It was liar or oaf. Ill go with the latter but let me just get this straight first. You are telling us that Dart is selling himself his own shipping company? Take another hit from your crack pipe buddy.
One more quick point of note- AGL Energy is an Australian owned and operated company, always has been.
Anyhoow, sleep tight, don’t let the Dart monsters bite.
I know the answer for you Its is not the ocean freight that hurts recycling. Ocean freight is inexpensive what costs are port fees In Cayman the fees are almost $ 1000 on a 40' container and on the US side it is another $1000 paperwork costs $500 and trucking costs $ 500 to get material to market
It has nothing to do with the empty barge.
That said Tropical used to ship recycle material all over the world After Dart purchased tropical last year he told the local recycling companys that there would be no more recycle material in his sea containers coming from Cayman
Aaahh! Mount Bracmore! We truly are the Sister Islands. Now all we need to complete the picture is Mount Littletrash.