Dear Source:
To all of us in the V.I.: We should be concerned. Everyone hates to show their ignorance on any subject, ergo opinions show up all the time. Well I am totally ignorant on how the WMA's assessment will be used and what will be done to solve an ever burgeoning real problem. But I do not know that fees are the easiest things to implement. They are only painful to the people that have to pay them and can stifle business, which creates the fees.
I do know that recycling works! It is usually painful in the beginning, but like all new routines one figures out how to make them less painful and make them have a positive effect.
One simple idea is for every person on the island to own a mesh bag. Why, so when they do their daily shopping, usually small, they wouldn't need plastic bags. Great little business for someone, or every retailer to sell at a nominal cost. How many plastic bags do you throw away every year?
Cost you less's idea of reusing cardboard boxes phenomenal, they don't create new garbage in the way of bags. Not an end all, but they do recycle.
We export very little; we import volumes, why can't we export recyclable goods, aluminum, glass, appliances, tires, automobiles, etc. Maybe we already do and I'm not aware of it. Another business for someone to capitalize on and more jobs.
Has our Hotel and Tourism Association or any supply distributor contacted the National Restaurant Association to find out what progressive states are doing in the way of more bio-degradable "to go" containers? By the way mesh bags would work here also.
How many businesses have shredders? Couldn't that paper mass be used for cushioning for packages that are mailed which are fragile?
Plant mass, in these recent years of our islands being verdant a lot of cutting, pruning and clearing has been done. I don't know the machinations of a mulching station, but I do see how much mulch is imported into the islands and sold at nurseries and other stores, creating more plastic garbage.
Where does oil go? Once again I don't know where it goes or what one does with old oils, but I'm sure that someone does in St. Croix. This may be a solved problem already.
Some of these may work; some may not. But if an e-mail address were set up for recycling ideas only, I'd bet some nifty ones would appear. After all we do have a lot of intelligent people here from many walks of life.
A parting thought, recently I came across the "Doe Fund" in Manhattan. They do many progressive things that are very successful. We couldn't imitate them, but I'll bet we could use some of their ideas. They can be googled easily. As an example, they collect free of charge all used cooking oils from restaurants, clean it and make biodiesel for jet planes. NYC has a lot more restaurants, I know, but it's only an example.
Stuff happens and we have a lot of stuff.
Craig Darash
St. Thomas
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