‘Offer duty- free incentives to recyclers’

Government backbencher Ian Gooding Edghill has proposed that the Mia Mottley administration put duty-free concessions in place for the recycling industry.

He argued that this would result in the importation of more equipment and trucks needed to collect solid waste.

The St Michael West Central MP was adding to the debate on the Returnable Containers Amendment Bill, which expands the kinds of items that residents can take to recycling plants in exchange for a small refund.

Edghill told lawmakers: “When you look at the equipment utilized in this sector I think for example, the time has come for us really to consider duty-free concessions for recycling plants in Barbados.

“They have a lot to offer and they do a lot of work and when you see the equipment and the cost of the equipment employed to preserve our environment I think this is one of the areas we should add to a list of duty-free concessions.

“We have duty-free concessions in other sectors, tourism and elsewhere, but for the environment and where we are talking about the preservation and protection of the environment, I believe the time has come to really look at a duty-free framework to establish concessions so that these persons who are in this business could be incentivise to purchase more equipment, to assist in the shredding and recycling of plastics and glass to help us clean up Barbados.”

Edghill argued that by giving the industry duty-free concessions allowing them to buy more trucks and relevant equipment, it would “ease a lot of pressure on the Sanitation Services Authority” and help to propel the country in its quest to “transform” waste management.

Under the new schedule to the Act passed in the House of Assembly today, glass beverage bottles will attract a refund value of 15 cents; polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles, and high density polyethylene and low density polyethylene over one litre, ten cents; and high density polyethylene and low density polyethylene under one litre, other glass containers, other non-glass containers and aluminium cans will fetch five cents each.

Since 1992, the law provided for only glass and PET plastic bottles to be returned for a refund, providing a small income to some Barbadians who separate the bottles from the waste stream.

Minister of the Environment Trevor Prescod said he was hoping that the changes to the Act would trigger a greater amount of separation of recyclables from the waste stream in Barbados, and more benefits to residents who return the containers.

He said this would result in a reduction in the amount of waste being collected and transported “in the limited trucks that we have”.

He said as a result of the “actions” of the players in the recycling industry about 400 tonnes of material were being diverted from the landfill.

Prescod said: “I spoke to a number of workers within he sanitation system, they told me that sometimes the waste is bulky that they take up on mornings or at nights, but most of the times the bulk can be reduced by 50 per cent easily, because most of the waste inside there that cause it to look in that manner is because we have a lot of plastic containers in it and then it goes onto the landfill.

“We are making a determined effort to address issues that are not biodegradable.”
marlonmadden@barbadostoday.bb