It was about seven years ago when I was asked by Waheed “Wilie” Hamed, president of the Market STT, to help keep our islands clean and litter free. We both shared this dream but saw very little action done about waste diversion and recycling on St. Thomas.
Working with his brother Mafi, president of The Market STX, and Diane Brooks they had the ability to make this happen on St. Croix. But they needed someone on St. Thomas to lead, motivate and educate the public bringing in items to recycle to the Market on Saturday mornings. Before Covid we worked as volunteers for four hours every Saturday and since Covid we have worked two hours every Saturday, from 9 to 11 a.m. Recently, we added Moe’s Fresh Market Northside on Thursdays from 4 to 6 p.m. This is a community volunteer activity. Volunteers work every week to collect and check the recyclables. The plastic is then crushed by employees at The Market, put on a container and sent to Miami where it is recycled.
We accept both plastic and aluminum cans. Glass is recycled by the Rotary Club in Red Hook.
Plastic: We accept #1, #2 and #5 plastic jug containers and bottles on Saturday mornings from 9 to 11 a.m. in a clear or white bag, no black trash bags. The plastic containers must have their caps or lids separated from the container so that the thousands of plastic bottles collected on Saturday mornings can be easily CRUSHED and shipped off island every few weeks as community service. Here is an example of why it is important to take your caps off. Try crushing a plastic bottle in your hand with a cap on it. It doesn’t work, right? But if you take the cap off, it does. Please help us out by doing this. This is why the volunteers on Saturday mornings ask you to please REMOVE the caps and to place the bottles and caps in your clear or white Saturday recycling bag BEFORE you arrive at the Market STT. No black plastic of any kind is accepted. This includes black plastic carry-out containers and black plastic sports drink caps. You know that plastic wrap that covers your drink bottles that keep them all together in one package? That plastic film is not accepted, either.
Aluminum: We accept aluminum cans that then will be recycled.
Growing up here I can still remember when there wasn’t a towering man-made mountain of trash in Bovoni. Do you remember that, too? Back then I could easily see dense mangroves lining the water’s edge with egrets flying overhead instead of an ever-growing mountain of trash and dirt. I would love to see that hill go down instead of rising to the sky and out towards environmentally protected areas and surrounding communities, wouldn’t you? Our leaders need to see this, too, and do all that they can to protect our health and environment, especially for the people who live nearby in the surrounding neighborhoods.
That is why I am asking you to please do all that you can to help greatly reduce or eliminate materials from entering our dumps or roadways. We still only collect a small fraction of the plastic that is used here and could do so much more. Plastic never goes away and breaks down over time. Reduce micro-plastics from being consumed by fish and entering our food supply, divert organic materials that could be made into rich organic compost for our farmers instead of creating flammable methane gas. Continue to crush glass for sandbags instead of using sand. We all play our roles and part in this effort.
Since Sept. 15, 2018, approximately 200 tons of plastic and 50 tons of aluminum cans have been diverted from the ever-growing mountain of trash and layered dirt. That is because of the hard work and commitment of volunteers that make it happen each Saturday morning between 9 and 11 a.m. at the Market STT and Thursday afternoons between 4 to 6 p.m. at Moe’s Northside. Please, please do not drop off your bags before or after any of these times! Remember, it is because of the goodwill of the Market STT and Moe’s on the Northside that this community-driven effort is possible.
Most importantly, please consider becoming a Saturday morning volunteer or connect with a student in need of community service hours. I hope this motivates you to visit VI Recycling | U.S Virgin Islands Conservation Society to join us and schedule a time with the memo line “Recycling Volunteer” at info@viconservationsociety.org today!
— Jason Budsan, former president, Virgin Islands Conservation Society and the Environmental Association St. Thomas St. John
Editor’s Note: Opinion articles do not represent the views of the Virgin Islands Source newsroom and are the sole expressed opinion of the writer. Submissions can be made to visource@gmail.com.
