The Government of Dominica in collaboration with the Dominica Solid Waste Management Corporation made a donation of bins to residents of the Kalinago Territory in an effort to encourage composting and garbage reduction in that area.
The pilot project is dubbed ‘Kalinago Territory Zero Waste Community Project’.
Manager of the Dominica Solid Waste Management Corporation, Mr. Florian Mitchell, says one hundred and twenty bins will be given to the residents of the Kalinago Territory under this project.
“The bins are not from the proceeds of the Kalinago Territory project. This is the Government’s contribution to the Kalinago Territory. Under the Community Waste Improvement Project, the Government of Dominica made monies available to help improve storage capability at the residential level. Now as part of the Kalinago Territory Zero Waste Community Project, you will receive an additional three hundred and seventy bins. You will receive 1500 blue crates which is what you will use to separate your recyclable material. So the project in itself will help us foster separation at source and present the Kalinago Territory as the area in Dominica where we can say we have a system whereby the waste that is generated is not basically being dumped at the landfill,” Mr. Mitchell stated.
Another component of the project is the construction of a compost facility.
“The plan would be to develop a compost facility within the Kalinago space and that could create some sort of economic generation, because you could well imagine we talk about food security, we talk about food safety and a lot of that organic content, a lot of the vegetation through our NEP and through our farmers that we throw all over the place; that in itself can give us high grade compos. That compost could be sold locally to farmers and even regionally. And that could bring forth some sort of economic prospect to the people of the Kalinago space. So that is basically the concept of the Kalinago Territory Zero Waste Community Project,” Mr. Mitchell explained.
Minister for the Environment, Rural Modernization and Kalinago Upliftment and Member of Parliament for the Salybia Constituency, Hon. Cozier Frederick, says with this donation garbage disposal will be properly managed in the Kalinago Territory.
“I am very happy that the cooperation can really unearth that really strong cultural aspect of our people, that we are able to manage waste from our homes, waste from our surroundings, and waste from the community in general and do it in a very organized manner. So with these gifts here, we will be able to manage and as we push forward the project as a model we are hoping that we can have that project spread across the island. And so the first zero waste project for the first people is an important thing because I suspect we have discounted for a long time the heritage and the importance of what we do as a Kalinago nation,” Hon. Frederick stated.
The Member of Parliament called on citizens to safeguard the bins and to ensure they are kept in good condition.
“These receptacles will be handy in the street corners in the Kalinago space and as we continue to develop the project we are hoping that we can get more partners on board. But the message to our people is to ensure that we safeguard these because if you go to a hardware store and you check out the price for these, if you had to buy it on your own you would not do it. It is free to you but it come at a cost to the corporation and to the Government, so I need you to take care of these receptacles. It is yours so we have to take care of it and ensure that we set a good example that can be spread across the country moving forward,” The Member of Parliament added.