BASSETERRE, St. KITTS - THE decade old cell at the Conaree Landfill is said to have reached it maximum capacity and measures are being undertaken to rectify the situation.
In an interview with SKNVibes, Operation Supervisor of the Solid Waste Management Corporation (SWMC) Wilmon McCall confirmed that the cell has gone beyond its life and disclosed that the cost of constructing a new landfill is approximately US$14M.
“The cell, as it is, has reached its capacity and we were asked not to further fill it. It has to stay there now and breakdown. The gasses will eventually escape and it will take its time. A new landfill will cost another 14 million US.
McCall highlighted the measures the SWMC will be commissioning in order to help extend the life of the cell.
“We had the handing over ceremony of a baler recently. The baler is the first step of our new thrust into waste to energy.
“The idea of the baler is to wrap the garbage and store them for the next two years. By that time a company called NAANOVO would have built a waste to energy plant that has the technology to convert the burnt waste to electricity and the residue of the burning to building blocks.”
He stated that the baler would be used as waste diversion technique.
McCall also stated that waste is still being deposited at the Landfill but not in the current cell.
He indicated it would now be dumped in a special area of the Landfill but that area is not as prepared as it should be.
“The garbage is still being deposited in the Landfill but not in the current cell, but in a special area of the Landfill that is not as prepared as it ought to be. We are using that until we start to bale in the next month or so.”
Prime Minister and Minister of Finance the Rt. Hon. Dr. Denzil Douglas made the disclosure of the waste to energy plant during his 2013 Budget Presentation in the St. Kitts and Nevis House of Assembly.
“I am pleased to inform you that my government has included Waste-to-Energy as a viable option to fossil fuel energy generation. We are currently encouraged by the formation of a new joint venture initiative between Nanovo Energy Incorporated and a local company, NICOL International Services.”
PM Douglas explained that the facility would be constructed over a biennium period in the vicinity of the Landfill at Conaree.
A landfill is a meticulously engineered depression in the ground designed for disposal of municipal solid waste, as it gradually breaks down into chemically inactive material. It is divided into cells or designated areas within which trash is stored with the objective of minimum impact to the environment, which include protection of groundwater from contamination.
