ReGen:
Rethinking Waste

Wednesday 21 July – Zoom

5pm London 
11am Cayman
12 Midday New York

 

ReGen: Rethinking Waste

A multimillion-dollar project is underway to turn the George Town Landfill site into a green space and build state-of-the-art infrastructure that, when finished, will improve recycling and turn materials that aren’t recycled into electricity to power our homes and businesses. 

Join representatives from the Cayman Islands Government and Dart to learn more about how ReGen will help create a cleaner and greener Cayman Islands, for the benefit of the whole community.

ReGen: Post Event Q & A

1. Does Dart still own/produce single use plastic cups and/or styrofoam products, and if so, does Dart recycle them currently on island or are they items that cannot be recycled and contribute to Cayman's waste problems?  Can they be used to generate energy?  Are there plans to do away with either product or make them green?  
Dart Container Company, based in the United States, produces foodservice packaging solutions made from a variety of materials including polystyrene and plastic, but also paper and sugarcane. You can read more about the materials Dart Container uses here.  
 
While Dart Container is a leader in creating and promoting recycling opportunities for polystyrene in the US, recycling for plastics in the Cayman Islands is managed by the Department of Environmental Health and is restricted to Plastics 1 and 2 at this time. In the future, items that are not processed through ReGen’s recycling facilities will serve as a fuel source for the energy recovery facility.  
 
Our hope is that ReGen’s nine, integrated facilities will create a solid foundation for the future waste reduction and recycling opportunities in Cayman, as determined by Government. The energy recovery facility will help Cayman reduce its landfill disposal volume by up to 95%, and significantly reduce the Islands’ carbon footprint by replacing approximately 10% of the diesel-powered electrical generation with cleaner burning and renewable energy. 
2. Who owns the dump site and the garbage such as the scrap metals?  Who profits from it?  
The current landfill site is owned by the Cayman Islands Government. The landfill portion of the property will be transferred to Dart once the site is remediated. At the end of the 25-year contract between Dart and Government, the ReGen facilities and associated development land currently owned by Dart will be transferred to Government ownership.  
 
The public-private partnership structure involves Dart providing the capital investment to construct the ReGen facilities. Once the facilities are commissioned, Government will pay on a per ton basis for waste processed through the new facilities over the 25-year life of the project. 
 
Government owns the scrap metal currently stockpiled at the landfill and has to pay contractors to process and ship the metals to overseas recycling markets. While the sale of the metals generates revenue, the cost to process and ship these materials outweighs the scrap metal value. 
3. Will only Caymanians be eligible to work at the new ReGen site, or will these also be work permit holders?
For many of these positions, there will be local tradespeople with suitable qualifications but we expect there will be some positions that we may not be able to be fill locally at the time of commissioning. Through training programmes and apprenticeships, the goal would be to reskill and upskill local applicants to take on these roles over the course of the 25-year contract period and beyond as the facilities have a 40-year lifespan.

The partnership with Government means that ReGen will also retain just over 30 Department of Environmental Health jobs related to recycling in the materials recovery, green waste processing (composting), household waste recycling and medical waste processing facilities. These jobs will also represent opportunities for new employment through staffing changes and succession planning. 

4. Where does Dart stand on doing away with single use plastics?
Plastics are ubiquitous in modern life and continue to meet consumers’ need for convenient, cost-effective and safe materials which are used to transport everything from take-away meals to medical supplies. Dart was represented on the Government-formed Steering Committee on Single-Use Plastics alongside a number of other local businesses, hospitality operators, community groups and health organisations. While Dart is not opposed to plastics legislation in the Cayman Islands, the Steering Committee meetings proved the complexity of balancing environmental, social and economic concerns, even at the local level. 
5. Can parents tour the dump site with their children as part of the education campaign?  
We anticipate that safety considerations due to current and future site operations will dictate our ability to accommodate tours. We will, however, work with the Department of Environmental Health to explore opportunities as to how they may safely be provided in the future. ReGen will include a purpose-built educational facility and be constructed to promote the opportunity for site tours. 
6. What items cannot be recycled but can be used to produce energy?

Currently, the Department of Environmental Health exports a range of materials overseas for recycling (full list here). Pending any changes in the local recycling strategy and international recycling markets, any items not accepted for recycling or composting will be processed through the energy recovery facility. There will be some separation of waste at the energy recovery facility but the public will still have an important part to play in separating out recyclables and ensuring hazardous or e-wastes are not mixed with household waste.

7. Can the hill (aka Mt. Trashmore) be flattened?
Mining of waste to reduce the waste pile was considered to be impractical and environmentally problematic early in the planning process for ReGen. The Government subsequently removed mining from the options within the Regen project.  However, it is anticipated that some natural settlement of the landfill will occur over time (around two to three feet per year) as the waste continues to break down and consolidate.

The geosynthetic liner included in the remediation design is designed to stretch to accommodate the differential settlement that may result from changes in the underlying waste mound.  Regular site inspections, particularly in the early years after remediation, will be required to address any necessary repairs to the landfill cap or landfill gas collection infrastructure. 

8. Where does our trash end up when we send it off island (who buys it, poorer countries or the US...)?
Special wastes such as e-waste, batteries, fluorescent bulbs, and hazardous chemicals that cannot be properly managed on-island, will be safely packaged and shipped to specialist recycling and disposal firms in the US to be appropriately managed. Recyclables are sent to Florida to be purchased by US-based recycling firms. Cayman does not export household trash and the Government has confirmed there will be no importation of waste once the new ReGen facilities are up and running. 

Cameron Graham
Dart President Development Delivery & Infrastructure

Richard McAree
Dart ESG Programme Manager
Martin Edelenbos
Dart Engineering Coordinator Solid Waste Management

Richard Simms
Director of the Department of Environmental Health

ReGen: Rethinking Waste

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