Dear Editor,

Much has been said recently about the garbage disposal fiasco in Georgetown, a fiasco which seems to have become at least an annual plague on the capital city. There has been much talk about the situation, from disgruntled shouts by the man on the street while watching his city deteriorate, to ingenious ideas and solutions being proffered through the media by those who are inspired enough to do so. Of particular interest is the recent letter by Mr C Kenrick Hunte, ‘There is no one answer to fixing Georgetown,’ published on Saturday August 14, in the Stabroek News. It is apparent that the writer cares enough about his capital city, and takes the time, energy and effort to deliberate on this disgusting issue and to pen potential solutions for the benefit of us all. The important issue now becomes – who, if anyone, is listening?

I wish to further a few points raised by Mr Hunte, in keeping with his suggestion that Guyanese should put their heads together and solve this problem. Let’s consider two of his suggestions – banning all styrofoam containers immediately and resuming the use of cardboard boxes; and the sorting and proper disposal of garbage.

This may be an appropriate time to introduce Caribbean Container Inc. (CCI),  the only integrated paper recycling and cardboard box manufacturing entity in Caricom. CCI is located at Farm, East Bank Demerara, and operates a recycling mill which has recycled in excess of twenty thousand metric tonnes of old corrugated cartons (OCC) or old cardboard boxes from 2003 to 2009. Of this, our local collections account for twelve thousand metric tonnes, with the balance being imported from Trinidad and Barbados. In Guyana, we are almost entirely dependent on our local suppliers who operate small trucks and horse-drawn carts to traverse Georgetown and pick up cardboard waste from retail stores, wholesale suppliers, distributors, and even the dumpsite. Some public-spirited, environmentally conscious business entities have also done their part by ensuring that their cardboard waste is delivered to CCI. The company aspires to increase its local collection and has implemented incentive arrangements aimed at achieving this, but with no proper waste disposal system in place for sorting garbage, increasing local collection becomes an onerous job for our suppliers. Nonetheless, CCI removes a significant amount of cardboard waste from the system. Should proper systems be put in place, eg, special receptacles for cardboard and paper waste, CCI will be able to remove and recycle an even greater amount of local paper waste. The company is presently considering embarking on the collection of ledger paper (white and coloured) from schools, offices, financial institutions, printers, etc. But once again, the impediment to embarking on a project of this magnitude is the lack of adequate garbage disposal systems, in particular source sorting.

The company also has the capacity to produce and/or distribute paperboard/ cardboard food boxes to replace styrofoam, and brown paper bags to replace plastic, but this may not be feasible without the support of all stakeholders. Cardboard or paper packaging is organic in nature, and cannot compare in price to synthetic plastics and styrofoam, so already there is a price disadvantage in imposing such a ban. Nonetheless, by taxing non-biodegradable packaging, a system can be put in place to give concessions to those who produce, purchase or use environmentally friendly packaging or provide incentives for them to do so.

I trust that public-spirited citizens would continue to voice their suggestions and indicate what they can do to assist, however little it may be. It is then up to the appropriate authorities to listen, internalize and co-ordinate the suggestions in an effort to implement a system which will keep Georgetown clean.

Yours faithfully,
Patricia Bacchus
Director/Company Secretary
Caribbean Container Inc