The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

and NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

Chamber of Commerce executives yesterday called for “the blame game” over the New Providence landfill to end, and revealed they plan to “accelerate” recommendations to the Government following the ongoing fire.

Debbie Deal,  head of the Chamber’s energy and environment division, told Tribune Business the private sector organisation intended to propose a separate “cradle to grave” mechanism for the separation and collection of companies’ hazardous waste.

Ms Deal said the Bahamas Chamber of Commerce and Employers Confederation (BCCEC) had first developed this idea two years ago, following a meeting and site tour with then-landfill manager, Renew Bahamas.

“About two years ago we went to Renew Bahamas and did a tour of the site,” she recalled.

“We understood that there were a number of reasons for the fires. One of the reasons was the fact that too much hazardous and toxic material is being simply thrown into the trash. They were finding things like flares at the landfill, batteries, electronics and other things that should never make it to the landfill.”

Ms Deal said these findings influenced the Chamber’s energy and environment committee to start working on a solution to divert these potentially dangerous, incendiary materials from the Tonique Williams Highway-based site.

“Right now we are working on a proposal which is not quite complete,” she said. “We are hoping to set up a separate waste collection, and a ‘cradle to grave’ acceptance, of hazardous materials from companies; a proper collection and waste management facility for them.”

Ms Deal explained that the Chamber is proposing a mechanism were hazardous waste and material would be collected, and disposed of, separately from other waste forms.

It is also exploring potential processes where consumers would be able to return certain materials to the original vendor, once their life was exhausted, where they could be collected and taken to the landfill. This would relieve ordinary Bahamians of the burden of having to dispose of them themselves.

“Most battery and tyre companies already do recycling of those types of materials,” Ms Deal said. “People need to be more conscious of how they dispose of their waste.”

Ms Deal also called for an end to the political ‘finger pointing’ over the landfill’s woes, while adding that communities such as Jubilee Gardens and Victoria Gardens should never have been built so close to the facility.

“People really have to stop the blame game and just look at what we can do to help,” she said. “It’s a sad thing that that subdivision was even built so close to the landfill.”

Gowon Bowe, the Chamber’s chairman, confirmed that the private sector body had been working with both Renew Bahamas and the Ministry of Environment in a bid to foster a “Tripartite relationship” towards resolving the landfill’s many problems.

“Subsequent to the termination of Renew’s contract, we have been seeking to be part of the process the Government is going through in terms of the way forward for management of the landfill,” Mr Bowe told Tribune Business.

“We understand the critical components, not only as it relates to waste management and the tipping of waste, but how the landfill impacts the Baha Mar development and other businesses in the vicinity, who are affected by closures.

“We have a series of recommendations we’d like to be making to them [the Government]. They’ve been discussed and vetted in the working group, and the proposals will be accelerated given the challenges we are now experiencing.”

Mr Bowe said the Chamber was now seeking to “re-energise the relationship” formed with the Ministry of the Environment when Renew Bahamas was still managing the landfill, as it seeks to actively assist with both the designing and implementation of solutions to the site’s problems.

Renew Bahamas walked away from its New Providence landfill management contract in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Matthew, citing security and safety concerns amid the absence of electricity supply, and a spate of thefts and shootings.

It had previously been seeking to renegotiate its management contract and associated financial terms with the Christie administration, having revealed to Tribune Business it had been incurring continuous, heavy losses.

The Government subsequently indicated that Renew Bahamas had used Hurricane Matthew as an excuse to pull-out, having realised that its business model - which depended almost exclusively on the sale and export of materials recycled from the landfill - was not viable or sustainable.

Mr Bowe said the Chamber had been seeking to mediate, and assist the Government and Renew Bahamas, in resolving their respective concerns.

“It went down to the sustainability of the revenues from the tipping fees; that was a major element in terms of what the tipping fee should be versus what was charged, and the financial commitments of the Government versus Renew,” he told Tribune Business.

“There were operational issues being worked through in terms of how each party’s financial obligations worked; there were financial sustainability issues.”

Mr Bowe emphasised that the Chamber was willing to work in partnership with the Government to find a lasting solution to the landfill’s problems.

“The effective management of the landfill is in everyone’s interests, from a health as well as an economic perspective, and we will do our part to support that,” he added.

“The management of the site is of great importance because of the potential for environmental implications, and it’s very close to a major tourism environment, so we’re looking to take care of it as best we can.

“There are a number of businesses in the vicinity that were impacted and had to close because of the fumes causing health hazards for employees.”