With this country generating more than 800,000 tonnes of garbage last year, the Minister of Public Utilities Marvin Gonzales says T&T has a lot of work to do when it comes to implementing and enforcing a waste management policy.
“In 2023, we commissioned a study that revealed that over 800,000 tonnes of waste is generated on an annual basis in this country,” he explained.
He added that 75 per cent of waste is recyclable and can be used to build communities and create a circular economy while protecting the environment.
Speaking at the launch of the Trinidad and Tobago Solid Waste Management Company (SWMCOL) 2024 Revised Municipal Solid Waste Sector Policy Framework, at Hyatt Regency Trinidad on Wrightson Road, Port-of-Spain yesterday, Gonzales said that the new policies would assist with waste management.
The policies include the National Integrated Solid Waste Resource Management Policy, the National Recycling Policy, and the Beverage Containers Deposit Return Policy.
“It’s three years of really hard work. We have been struggling to get all of the stakeholders together to get to a point where we can produce three major policies for waste management in Trinidad and Tobago. It has not been easy to meet with chambers of commerce, the manufacturing sectors, the public sectors, private sector agencies, but we thought in order to advance this we needed to get everyone around the table,” he said.
According to the minister, the main policy is the integrated Waste Management Policy which he said was like the mother of the two other policies.
“In the past, the conversation was really about recycling and beverage containers,” he said.
But Gonzales explained that a proper system needs to go way beyond that as the beverage container system did not cater for the various types of waste.
He said another major gap was that SWMCOL does not have the legislative capacity to manage waste in T&T and always had to rely on the police and the Environmental Management Authority.
The minister said that come September, they will work on the legislation to back the policies and ensure that SWMCOL has the necessary legislative capacity to lead the charge in waste management.
He added that while lawmakers go through the parliamentary process to put in place the framework, some initiatives could be implemented outside of legislation.
Gonzales said entrepreneurial people can help with the mission by gathering e-waste (electronic waste) and going to the various collection centres for compensation.
“For every bottle that you see at the side of the road or tyre or e-waste there is value now in it,” he said.
But Gonzales also scolded citizens for their contribution to waste pollution. He questioned why every year tonnes of waste were collected during beach clean-ups or at rivers after citizens enjoy time there.
“We must ask ourselves do we truly love this country and if we do we will treat it better,” he stated.