On Thursday, Plastikeep founder Rosanna Farmer will remove 70 public recycled bins from 26 sites spanning from Morvant to Chaguaramas due to lack of funding and a clear direction from the Green Fund.
A few of the bins which were installed in the constituencies of MPs Colm Imbert, Darryl Smith, Stuart Young and Dr Keith Rowley will be no more.
Farmer said the termination of the service would reflect badly on the Government’s image and the significant quantity of plastic materials diverted on a weekly basis to landfills would end up being indiscriminately dumped.
When the metal bins were in operation in 2015, Farmer said as much as 250,000 pounds of plastic were collected a year.
She said though the bins were purchased in their name in 2010, she would await directive from the Green Fund.
Farmer said Plastikeep is owed 1.3 million in subvention by the Government. “At this point, I feel I have held out for 23 months and good sense has not prevailed. I have to stop incurring debt. We would have to take the Government to court... this is what I am guessing... if they don’t come forward. The reason why I have to pull in these bins is to secure them.
“These bins have my branding all over them which would have to be removed. They have not been cleaned in a year now.”
Farmer said it was not an exaggeration to say that the recycling industry in T&T lags badly behind international best practice, including some recycling systems in some of our Caribbean neighbour territories.
“Plastikeep has forged for itself an enviable and progressive position in both the local and Caribbean context. It will not be to the best advantage of our recycling industry to compromise the prestige of such a unique project simply for the lack of a budgetary provision,” Farmer said.
In 42 primary and secondary schools where the bins were placed, Farmers said materials were continually collected.
But managing director of the Environmental Management Authority(EMA) Hayden Romano said the authority planned to manage Plastikeep’s bins which belong to the Green Fund.
“These bins are supposed to continue under the EMA’s iCare project. The Green Fund has said they would like us to continue with the bins in the locations as is. That is what is supposed to be happening.”
Under the iCare project, the EMA has 70 recycled bins scattered across the country.
Within the next six months, the EMA will install another 70 iCare bins at schools, businesses and State enterprises.
“When we include the Plastikeep bins this figure will increase to 210 bins.”
Farmer, on the other hand, insisted that the bins cannot be handed over to anyone without a proper plan