7 News Belize

City Council's New Plan for Your Garbage
posted (August 25, 2009)

Belize City has a 40 acre garbage problem at mile 3 on the Western Highway. Tons of garbage sit at the Belize City Dump in perpetuity because they are not biodegradable. But a new company – New Venture Waste Management Services - hopes to relieve the city council of five million plastic bottles. We visited the dump today to find out how.

Keith Swift Reporting,
To us this bag of plastic bottles is just garbage but to scavengers at the Belize City dump, plastic bottles or what are known as pegs, like this vinegar bottle which has the number one imprinted on the bottom – could be big money.

Osmond Martinez,
“My plan is to start to recycle all the plastic pegs, the pegs are all those plastics with number one and then to export them to the Asian countries.”

Osmond Martinez says the bottles will be compacted and then shipped to Asia for recycling.

Osmond Martinez,
“They will be sent to different countries in Asia and the purposes would be one, to make bumpers for cars, little gadgets from plastics that are in your automobile, toys, cars, plastic carpets and basically for that purpose. Actually we want over 100 tons of bottles and nevertheless a hundred tons would be considered any where between 4 to 5 million bottles so I see no problem collecting the bottles, not only from Belize City but throughout the whole country of Belize.”

Keith Swift,
“Do you know yet how much you will be paying for the bottles?”

Osmond Martinez,
“Well right now we are looking at the demand. We more or less have an estimation of how much we will be playing and I should be able to run it down today and tomorrow I will meet with the guys here as we had agreed with the councillor and we should be able to bring a number.”

The plan has been endorsed by the city councillor in charge of sanitation Phillip Willoughby. He pitched the plan to those who live and work in the dump this morning.

Phillip Willoughby, City Councillor
“The initiative now is saying simply that all the plastic bottles will be collected and salvaged by the very persons who are here and there is a guaranteed market by a friend of mine. Here comes the initiative as a part of our plan of action to rid Belize, the country of Belize, of these non-biodegradable material and have it serve as a fruitful purpose to make other products and be a by product for other products for other countries. Like I said, it will off set Belize’s problem of non-biodegradable plastic, it will be creating a job and a source of income for the persons here in the dump site, and I believe it is a two way benefit for us and the young man for the initiative.”

Schools are also encouraged to participate in the plan and recycle their bottles with the number one imprinted on the bottom.

New Venture Waste Management Services will recycle the bottles at a processing facility in Sandhill.

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