St. Lucia’s invisible achievements
Saint Lucia’s Solid Waste Management Authority (SLSWMA) is involved not only in advanced environmental stewardship but also in presenting an impeccable appearance to tourists, investors, business delegates and all other VIPs.
But the SLSWMA rarely receives the recognition it merits. “Perhaps that’s because people don’t notice anything when we’re doing a good job,” said General Manager, Ms Geraldine Lendar-Gabriel with a philosophical smile. “It’s when things aren’t quite perfect that people realize someone has to be responsible.”
In fact, Saint Lucia’s never had it so good, or soclean and healthy. But as recently as the 1990s, only about 60% of St Lucia’s households received a collection service and that was unscheduled and irregular. The country then had about ten small landfills and bio-medical waste was being managed through archaic incinerators. SLSWMA was launched in 1997 to address those problems. And now there are island-wide collections, modern bio-medical waste disposal, two international standard landfills one of which the United Nations recognized as a model low-tech site. The island also boasts a controlled disposal waste oil management program, a derelict vehicle removal program, a ship waste management program and much else besides.
“So our message to the international community is that if you who want to come into Saint Lucia to do business we are not only well-served by our solid waste management systems but we’re also well placed to launch other leading-edge initiatives in waste management,” said Ms Lendar-Gabriel.
Private and Public
The SLSWMA has already been involved in a number of successful Public Private Partnerships. “And we believe that the key to what we’ve achieved is constructively to engage both the local and non-national private sectors.”
Going forward, the Authority wants to see waste more as a resource than as garbage. So they’re heading in the directions of waste recovery and waste to energy.
Because the successful disposing of waste tends to be out of sight and out of mind, SLSWMA must constantly bring the processes to people’s attention so they don’t take it all for granted. Educating children is a cornerstone of that policy and bi-annual Waste Management Workshops are among the means to sensitize 5-15 year olds and to develop in them an awareness of its importance to the environment.
“Our waste management workshops incorporate such elements as expressive writing and drama , and there are tours of landfill sites and anti-litter marches,” said Ms Lendar-Gabriel “All of those activities are designed to demonstrate how care of the environment naturally improves the quality of life.”
She added “US president Theodore Roosevelt set the standard when he stated: ‘I recognize the right and duty of this generation to develop and use our natural resources, but I do not recognize the right to waste them, or rob by wasteful use, the generations that come after us.”
“Our aim is to show that St Lucia has that same responsible environmental approach. This industry creates employment while protecting people’s health.” And no one should take that for granted.
