A St. Croix company wants to keep plastic out of the territory’s landfills by putting it in homes — turning plastic pollutants into furniture and durable building materials.
By Carnival 2026, Christiansted-based RePlastic Recycle hopes to be collecting and processing more than 44,000 pounds of plastic a week. The goal is to be so successful at transforming trash into boards for decks, roofing, and walls that someone could soon be buying your empty bottles and other trash. To litter would be throwing away money.
Other organizations, like Island Green Living, collect plastic and ship it off island for manufacturing elsewhere. Getting plastic waste out of the territory is great, said Steve Chmura, RePlastic Recycle cofounder and CEO, but shipping creates extra cost and a larger carbon footprint.
“We don’t have anyone who manufactures, so being able to shred and process that plastic is very difficult, so we have to export it,” Chmura said.
Soon, Chmura said, his company would collect roughly 40 times the amount others do and use cutting-edge technology to sort and reshape the material in the USVI. With the help of investors and grants, he plans to enlist AI technology to quickly and thoroughly sort the different types of commonly used plastics. RePlastic Recycling recently signed a memorandum of understanding with the Virgin Islands Waste Management Authority, Chmura said.
Currently, RePlastic Recycling can only process the types of plastics found in milk jugs, detergent and yogurt containers, straws, and bottle caps. The plan is to expand capabilities to recycle four of the six common plastics, including polyethylene terephthalate, the kind found in water and soda bottles.
The Virgin Islands government has sued PepsiCo and Coca-Cola over their role in flooding the territory in plastic. A 2019 study by the University of Virgin Islands’ Caribbean Green Center found roughly 21 percent of trash in the territory’s landfills was plastic, according to the Virgin Islands Licensing and Consumer Affairs Department’s suit in Superior Court.
“They’re dumping tons of that clear plastic into stores,” Chmura said. “Yes, all of their plastic is recyclable. But we must have infrastructure and systems in place to do this. On our islands that is even more difficult. It’s a labor intensive and difficult process without machines to do it at scale.”
The lawsuit, filed April 11, claims companies like Pepsi and Coca-Cola do little to help clean up the 29 million tons of plastic pollutants dumped on land and in waterways around the world each year — and deceive customers into thinking they are buying a product that can be easily recycled.
Virgin Islanders who don’t buy single-use plastics like water bottles would still have difficulty avoiding being part of the problem, Chmura said. Almost everything shipped to the territory comes on a pallet coated in low-density polyethylene shrink wrap.
“The public’s responsibility lies in reducing consumption of single-use plastics, properly sorting recyclables, and supporting initiatives that encourage sustainable practices. Consumers can make informed choices, such as opting for products with minimal or recyclable packaging, and participating in local recycling programs,” Chmura said. “With limited infrastructure, community will be key in making our home a cleaner place.”
Plastic manufacturers and marketers have a responsibility to design products that can be easily recycled, invest in waste management systems and community programs, and educate their customers about the life cycle of the products they buy, he said.
“The role of governments is also crucial. They can regulate plastic production and encourage investment in better waste management infrastructure and product redesign,” Chmura said. “Communities and businesses should embrace circular economy models that focus on keeping materials in use for as long as possible, reducing waste at the source, and reusing or repurposing products.”
