Waste being wasted: de Castro says Noel Lloyd’s smelter idea remains feasible
BVI News staff - Wednesday, February 6th, 2013 at 10:44 AM
Claiming that the territory is not doing enough to transform its waste into cash, social commentator Courtney de Castro has recommended that Government and citizens go back to the drawing board and take a serious look at the many related possibilities.
On the weekend, he told viewers to his “Speak Your Mind” programme that the BVI is capable of recycling fallen trees, rubber tires and several other waste materials that are now going up in smoke.
de Castro implied that a change of attitude may be required and alluded to an idea the late Noel Lloyd had to build a smelter plant at Pockwood Pond.
He said the idea, which is practical today, was not approved by Government although it was inexpensive; costing little more than $300,000.
“He (Noel Lloyd) made a presentation to the government, and I assisted him in a way. I am proud to say that I was able to make some drawings for him – for the smelter; and nothing was done.”
Although Lloyd’s idea remains untouched, de Castro has recommending several others which include the making of mulch from fallen trees.
He stated that such process could add value to agriculture and money to the pockets of entrepreneurs. “They could sell the mulch, or they could use the mulch to keep the earth cool around the plant and improve the quality of the plants that we are producing.
“Don’t look at the broken trees and all that stuff; don’t look at it as disaster and take it to Pockwood Pond to burn it. Buy a mulching machine and put it at the Agriculture Department and take the broken tree limbs and feed it to the mulching machine and produce mulch, and sell the mulch for money – hard earned money,” de Castro emphasized.
He also claimed that the territory is losing a lot of money by not making good use of wooden pallets; each of which he said costs $5 in Puerto Rico.
“Wooden pallets are put on trucks and taken to Pockwood Pond to burn up. We are burning up cash here. We are so affluent; we are burning up cash. Those wooden pallets could be reshipped and turn into cash.”
de Castro went on to explain that several other waste materials can be turned into money with or without the assistance of government.
“Waste management is a serious business. It is taking products that we used to call waste and turning them into cash money… What’s one person’s waste yesterday is someone’s business today.
“We really need to take a look at what’s happening in terms of waste management, and my philosophy about it is – don’t wait for the government to do something. Each and every one of us {can} start in your business-place. Put down three different garbage bins; one bin for what we call regular garbage, one bin for plastic, and one bin for bottles. We could take those bottles to Cane Garden Bay. They have a place down there where they recycle bottles.”
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6 Comments
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It must be nice being a Radio Personality. You can throw around ideas without being responsible for practicalities like feasibility. Many people have tried sending spent goods back to the mainland. At first it worked because shipping was cheap, the BVI Ports Authority did not impose any fees and the residual value was high. Now the fees imposed by the BVI Authority are high and the regulations and paperwork so complicated, it is just not worth it, so goods lie around or get burned at the incinerator.
Sale a palett in San Juan for $5
How much to transport say $8
Plus consulting costs naturally
Will make a great loss which is in line with usual government planning
Plus by the time they decide will they be using pallets
he didn’t say send one at a time ass. with these things u ship in bulk so that the transport cost makes sense and there is a profit.
people here too lazy for dat.
Ain’t nobody got time for dat?
“Nobody” has time for it until “somebody” does it, starts to make a little money from it, then “everybody” starts doing it, making sure they kick out the “nobody” who started doing it in the first place.
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