News Circular Economy Social Improvement
3 min.
The government of Curaçao recently announced that they will be taking tougher action against various illegal acts that are still being committed on the island on a regular basis, namely the illegal construction of structures, the occupation of land without permission, and the illegal disposal and incineration of garbage. In terms of this last issue, the known illegal garbage dump in the Sint Joris area on the eastside of the island will be included as well. Together with local police, a new government team will be assembled to tackle these issues and the people involved in them.
Persistent problem
The above, of course, sounds nice, but the local population at Banda’riba, in the eastern part of Curaçao, is skeptical. For years, they have been dealing with, and complaining about, the issues arising from the many illegal garbage incinerations that take place throughout the area, such as terrible odors, (poisonous) smoke and flies. That’s also why it’s not the first time that this issue has been in the news over the past few years.
Back in 2018, member of local Parliament Giselle McWilliam, for example, raised official parliamentary questions in regard to the illegal waste incineration problem in Curaçao. At the time, that was mainly in connection to the promotion of the Dam Pretu area of the island as a prime destination for tourists. Both politicians and local inhabitants argued that for both their own quality of life and the touristic value of the area, there had to be more control.
Like the occurrence of the problem itself, the announcement of a tougher stance on the perpetrators responsible for the problem is not new either. As a result, the people living on the eastside of the island take the most recent words of the government with a major grain of salt. They say that the problem is not only very common, but that the illegal incineration sites are very clearly visible, and that the government could have easily started cracking down on the problem years ago already. “Perhaps we should know better, but we are waiting for a change and we want the government to take action”, says one person living near to Dam Pretu, who wished to remain anonymous.
New approach
A glimmer of hope for the locals is provided by Minister of Finance Javier Silvania, who has proposed a previously unexplored potential solution to the illegal waste incinerations in Curaçao. It started with a funding request by garbage processing company Selikor made to the government. Silvania reacted to that request by saying that they can consider the loan, but only based on certain conditions. One of those conditions is that the local population can pass by the legal Selikor garbage dump Malpais, just to the west of Curaçao International Airport, once a week to dump their garbage there for free.
The idea behind this exceptional condition is that illegal garbage dumps and therefore illegal garbage incinerations will keep occurring as long as people need to pay for dumping their garbage every time. If this can be free of cost, it is expected that this will happen a lot less as the main reason for illegal dumping will no longer be relevant. Rumor goes that Selikor has agreed to this condition, which would be a step in the good direction for Banda’riba and the rest of the wonderful island that is Curaçao.
The basis for this article was originally published on www.caribischnetwerk.ntr.nl in April 2022.
