KvK hosted a Lecture about Waste Management, by the Ministry of Transport, Integrity, Nature and Elderly Affairs’, at the Chamber of Commerce headquarters. Juliet Carvahal presented on behalf of the ministry.
She is passionate about the project and believes a slow and steady mind-shift is possible.
Juliet went through a slide presentation, the overview Vision & Direction, Guiding Principles, Blueprints, Regulatory Framework, Timeline and Next Steps and I could feel the room quiet and patient, waiting for the Q&A session.
The people in the room, as it turned out, were mostly building, and landscaping contractors who went from dumping trash at Parkietenbos on December 31st, for Awg 18 a ton, to processing waste on January 1st, at Ecotech, and other addresses, for Awg 130 a ton.
Don’t hold me to the numbers.
Hold me to the principle, that we went overnight from dumping to processing. Our Waste is now categorized into a number of streams, each deposited in a different place with a different private sector company, metal here, tires there, construction debris here, garden clippings there.
As a society we developed very bad habit, over the past decades. Why? Because we could, and we relegated the waste business to GOA, where in fact, we own it, it doesn’t belong to the government.
In the new mind set, we have to think about the product’s end of life, before we purchase it.
We are an island. When we buy an extra TV, we have to think about what will happen at the end of that appliance’s life, how will it be disposed responsibly.
Think before you buy, because of the cultural mind shift we must adopt namely Pro Environmental Values.
The companies represented in the room at KVK built their business on dumping trash. They charged x florins for a job, cleaning cocos for example, then dumped the waste, at very little cost.
That business model MUST change now. They will have to charge for their work AND for the processing of the waste.
Serlimar, the operator of Parkietenbos lost million each year because of an inadequate, make-no-sense business model.
And the consumer must adjust to the new reality. We can no longer Take, Make, Use and Dispose, because GOA is NOT the owner of the waste generated, we are, and open dumping and burning is no longer acceptable and will not be tolerated.
The dump is closed since January 1st, 2023, and over time more local companies will get into the waste sector and start recycling Electronics, for example, so that disposal, recycling and reusing becomes as important as production, sales and consumption.
Perhaps buying a large chipper, and composter of yard waste is an idea for a new business. As far as I know, Fantastic Gardens has been processing its own garden waste, and charging their clients for disposal.
As a garden owner, I am willing to help my garden clippings become nutritious soil conditioners, which are much needed here, and I should be willing to pay for it, or give up the garden.
How big should the Arashi trash cans be? We should have zero trash cans at Arashi, because every beach-goer is in charge of disposing his/her own waste, it is just part of the cycle of consumption.
