By Aabigayle McIntosh
The Antigua and Barbuda Waste Recycling Corporation (ABWRC) is a non-profit organization that has been working assiduously working to assist in bulk waste reduction and the removal of non-biodegradable materials from Antigua and Barbuda through recycling.
Opened in 2006 the organization has so far exported over 3 million pounds of plastic bottles, collected from across the country, to different places around the world.
Chairman Mario Bento admits, “this is just the tip of the iceberg” as he announced another project that is in the pipeline. The aim is to use the very same plastic bottles to repurpose them and make different manufacturing items.
The equipment needed for this newest venture is in place according to Bento
“The next step now is to just get a building purpose-built for this manufacturing enterprise to get going. We will be making plastic products, and plastic lumber from as much as the waste plastic as much as possible. We hope that within the next year, this will be possible,” Bento said.
This development is coming at a time when world leaders are renewing their commitment to beat plastic pollution due to its devastating impact on the environment.
On the occasion of World Environment Day, celebrated earlier this week, Environment Minister Sir Molwyn Joseph issued a call for governments and stakeholders to commit to reducing the climate of plastic pollution, which persists as a grave threat to marine ecosystems throughout the region and across the globe.
Sir Molwyn made the plea while delivering a national statement to the second session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC-2), which was established by way of resolution at the United Nations Environment Assembly last year, to create a legally binding instrument that will see the end of plastic pollution by 2024.
“This growth in the use of plastics has caused catastrophic problems in our marine ecosystems and human and environmental health due to the resulting plastic pollution,” Sir Molwyn told Government leaders, policy makers and experts gathered in France for the meeting.
Sir Molwyn also followed up an eight-point strategy that he shared with the 54th Ministerial meeting of the High Ambition Coalition to End Plastic Pollution with a thorough examination of key categories that he proposes for consideration in limiting the negative impacts of plastics.
One such strategy seeks to devise and adopt solutions that promote a circular economy in preference to the traditional linear approach that dispels a “take-make-dispose” approach.
He also noted that waste management is another major category with which small islands like Antigua and Barbuda struggle, but crucial in mitigating public health risks while sustaining economic activity and enhancing public welfare.
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