IN TWO YEARS, landfills in Barbados could be a thing of the past.
Minister of the Environment, Water Resources and Drainage Dr Denis Lowe said permission had been granted for Government to pursue building a solid waste treatment plant at Vaucluse, and an announcement would be made within “a couple of weeks” on what will be done with the plant at Greenland.
“Cabinet . . . approved, on Thursday, the final arrangements to begin negotiations to purchase the quarry and build a leachate plant, waste energy plant, transfer station and administration building at Vaucluse, which will handle all the solid waste in Barbados,” Lowe said.
“Within two years, we hope to have the waste energy plant commissioned, at which point there will be no further disposal at the landfill,” he said.
He was speaking to the Press yesterday after an environmental walk from the Berinda Cox Market in Oistins to Silver Sands beach, both in Christ Church.
The walk was organised by the National Conservation Commission (NCC) to mark World Environment Day.
Lowe said the transfer station had already been commissioned and was handling “around 65 per cent” of the waste from the landfill.
He said landfills produced a tremendous amount of greenhouse gases and were not in keeping with Barbados’ effort to become a “First World” country, which was why an alternative had to be found.
The minister also spoke about a programme which was being piloted in Marchfield, St Philip, where people would be given incentives to separate their garbage before it reached the transfer station.
He said: “We are launching an initiative in Marchfield to provide bins as well as a special collection route and we hope to extend that to other communities.”
Lowe said the $300 million main modernisation project had begun.
His ministry was also looking at how to prevent the loss of “thousands of gallons” of water to the ocean during the rainy season. (CA)
