Recently the Aruban minister of Transport, Integrity, Nature and Elderly Adults Affair, Mr. Ursell Arends, presented a change process which will take place regarding waste management.
Since the 22nd of February, Arends announced that the process of change will take about 10 years, and that it started last week. Serlimar, Ecotech [both waste management companies], the Department of Nature and Environment, and Bureau City Inspector came together to explain the following steps regarding waste management.
Currently, Aruba’s economy is linear – Take – Make – Use – Throw Away – but it needs to be urgently restructured. The steps will also be taken as fast as possible in order to achieve this restructuring.
Arends explained that the first step they are working on, in order to restructure waste management, is reorganizing where the waste ends up and how it is processed. “In order for us to close the dump at Parkietenbos, we must start by stopping the flow of waste arriving at the dump”, he said.
In order for there not to be more fires at the dump, Arends emphasized that we need to stop fueling these fires, which means slowly and gradually reducing the amount of waste arriving at the dump, by directing the waste somewhere else where it can be processed responsibly.
Once that stage is completed, the waste portfolio will be reorganized into one that is focused on circular economy and on developing a waste sector that is robust and sustainable. As Arends said, already the private sector proved to have the capacity and expertise in the area of waste processing.
“In a circular economy, waste doesn’t exist, the way to handle waste is to recover the materials and the value”, he said. For this reason the platform ‘Trash 2 Cash’ was started, in order to ‘symbolize’ that waste has an economic value and also in order for the community to start changing the way they think about the meaning of waste.
Arends said that during the first months in his role as minister, they identified different kinds of waste and the amount of each one arriving currently at the dump. After speaking with various stakeholders, listening to them, the government has a better understanding of the waste industry. The concluded that locally there is the necessary expertise and infrastructure to effectively process all kinds of waste.
He also said that not all type of waste process that they found is perfect, but any method of waste processing that doesn’t consist of simply throwing this away on a landfill or burning it in open air is already a step in the right direction towards a responsible waste management.
The goal, according to Arends, is to stop the fires and close the dump in Parkietenbos. “This will also help us continue stimulating to reach the main goal, that of a circular economy, and we are doing this gradually. Today is the start”, he said.
No more tires received at Parkietenbos from the 22nd of August
Jermaro Emerencia, PR of Serlimar was also present at the same press conference. He said that on the 19th of August 2019, Serlimar and Ecotech Freezone reached an agreement that some types of waste, like old tires, eventually would be processed by Ecotech. Last week the decision was made, together with minister Arends, that from the 22nd of August 2022 it will no longer be possible to bring old tires to the dump and Parkietenbos. Emerencia said that “it’s time for us to begin being more healthy in the way in which we handle and process waste”.
Eduard Jimenez, operations manager at Ecotech Freezone said that they are very happy to be part of the solution to the challenges that Aruba is facing regarding waste management. The company he represents exists from 1985, and in 2018, they created Ecotech Freezone, which is a recycling plant that is professional and unique in the Caribbean.
Since five years ago they are in charge of processing a large amount of waste on Aruba, both residential and commercial, but they are aware that it’s still necessary to close the dump. This is the first step to reach that goal.
Their role in this is to receive and process the old tires. Afterwards, they will hand those over to another company to complete the process. Ecotech Freezone also has an agreement with another company already where they receive tires to continue helping Aruba reach the next level, in order to be cleaner and have less pollution.
