Friday, February 22, 2008Glass Roots

Dena JacksonIslanders Cash in on the trash in the BVI�s First Effort to Recycle

“The garbage goes in and the air goes black yet the glass bottles are still left at the bottom”, said Mrs. Wheatley of BVI Glass Recycling, Tortola’s first ever recycling company. Before the company’s inception, the Tomlinson’s one day observed obscene amounts of glass and cans thrown in the garbage during the /06 BVI Carnival and vowed to take action. Even though the company has not yet broken even, after a full year of operations, Mr. and Mrs. Wheatley Tomlinson remain enthusiastic about their work. They are receiving great support from the community and are excited about how many people want to get involved after reading Miss Sachkia Barnes’ promotional article “Breaking glass for a great cause.”

Soon after the government issued them a trade license to collect glass products; bars and hotels got on board sending their glass to be crushed, adding to their contracted amount of one thousand tons per shipment. Upon completion of this phase, the glass is then shipped to Puerto Rico to complete the recycling process.
Resorts, companies, and organizations such as Peter Island Resort, CYM Yacht Management and VISAR are also getting involved, revamping their systems to adjust to the available recycling options. “Garbage men are promoted to Environmental Engineers and Dishwashers to Stewards”, stated Casper Luiken, Executive Assistant Manager of Peter Island Resort. “Pay raises fuel employee motivation for Peter Island’s new glass and cans recycling effort”, continued Luiken. Indeed since Peter Island began its recycling project three months ago, the island is going greener than ever. Recycle bins are sprinkled throughout the resort grounds. All food and beverage staff have been trained to place glass and cans into different colour bins; Blue for glass and green for cans.

To date, Peter Island has invested in over $37,000.00 worth of equipment, including a glass crusher, commercial bins and a special utility vehicle. When the bins are filled, they are transported to Tortola by boat to a proprietor at the Skelton Quarry, where some of the glass is crushed and used in the cement to build better roads. Cans are shipped to Puerto Rico. Having purchased a soda in a glass bottle before my visit to Peter Island, it felt great to throw my first glass bottle in to a recycling bin, quieting inner turmoil of the global guilt trip I sometimes take. I wondered why the Island didn’t expect a return after all they have invested in this process. “Before we launched this system, guests would come up to us all the time and ask us why we were leaving our garbage in a huge pile in the back”, he said. Though what must have then been the eyesore garbage dump sitting at the back, unseen by all except a few adventurous hikers, it was not exactly the image the Dutch born Mr. Luiken was after. This inspired him to turn many stones to research the three-month-old recycling project. The Resort has many more plans for the expansion of recycling, but will not release that information until those plans are implemented.

It’s great that companies like this are taking care of Nature’s Little Secret’s, I thought to myself, but what could motivate everyday citizens and residents to do this, especially kids? For financial reasons, BVI Recycling cannot offer incentives to companies at this time. Children are the exception to this rule, however. If children in organizations (such as Youth Empowerment Project) collect the glass, then they may collect five cents per bottle. So in effect, by ordering your own bin, and informing such organizations where they can find it, you are helping to keep the island clean and helping kids at the same time.

One Thousand tons is after all quite a big order to fill, so BVI recycling and other companies that pop up in their wake will need all the help they can get if for no other reason than to line a few kids’ pockets in the meantime! We could be like cats in the grass watching and empowering children to learn how to stay busy and productive, like the old paper boy jobs, nowadays, being replaced by glass recycling jobs.

In the wake of a new government creed to keep the land for the people, I must say I shared the Tomlinson’s enthusiasm when they say, “We are doing this for the people and their land. To keep the land clean and to keep it free.” finished Mrs. Tomlinson. Empower kid’s candy filled hands now, I say and watch them one day reach those same hands out towards the world’s larger green economies, securing their lands and futures.

Oyster Publications Inc, PO box 3369, Road Town Tortola, British Virgin Islands, VG1110