Grenadines Solid Waste Management Project

Between 1997 and 2004, there has been significant investment in the Solid Waste Management on mainland St. Vincent, through the OECS Solid Waste Management Project which was co-financed by the World Bank and the CDB. During this period however, agreement was not reached on the design of a solid waste management system for the Grenadines and work on the islands was limited to an improvement in the management of existing dump sites.

In 2005, a consultancy study financed by the EU, produced detailed management and design proposals, including cost estimates for solid waste management facilities on Bequia, Canouan, and Union Island.

In June 2006, the Government of St. Vincent and the Grenadines requested a loan from the CDB to assist in co-financing the implementation phase of the project with the EU and Government of St. Vincent and the Grenadines being the other sources of financing.

In late 2006, the CDB commenced their appraisal of the project and it is expected that following approval of that portion of financing, the project will be ready for implementation, possibly late 2007 or early 2008.

The CWSA/SWMU along with the Consultants are at present conducting a detailed review of the social and environmental impact assessment of the facilities on each island with particular attention given to the choice of site for the proposed incinerator on Bequia.

The project is expected to cost US$8.3 million.

This project will establish buildings called Materials Recovery Facilities (MRF's) and small landfills on each of Bequia, Canouan, and Union Island. The garbage on each island will be collected and sorted for items which can be recovered, reused and incinerated.

The consultants had had originally proposed that ONLY sorted and packaged plastics and other combustibles from other islands will be earmarked for incineration on Bequia. These were to be shipped safely in containers for final disposal by incineration.

The quantities estimated by the consultants are 5 tonnes per week or 7% of the waste generated on Canouan and 1 tonne per week from Union Island.

The Consultants are however reconsidering the decision to locate the incinerator on Bequia, especially in light of the concerns of residents on the islands. Final information on this is expected to become available by October 2007.

Incineration will further reduce the dependence on land filling and in particular will significantly reduce the need to earmark valuable lands on Bequia for this purpose, now and in the future. The merits of the choice of incineration can only be judged in relation to alternatives available. These are limited to:

(a) Exportation to another island
(b) Pure land filling as is presently the case
(c) Land-filling, plus some recovery measures to increase the life of the landfill
(d) Land-filling, plus recovery, plus incineration, to further increase the life of landfills

It is expected that the incinerator will be located, designed and specified to achieve safe emissions that meet all international standards. Incinerators are currently safely operated in neighboring islands such as Mustique and Barbados.