SXMElections.com

TAMARIND HILL--A community recycling collection point was opened in Tamarind Hill on Saturday, as an initiative started by Learning Unlimited (LU) Preparatory School eleventh grader Bodine Beentjes.

The student took the initiative to organise the setup of the collection point for Tamarind Hill Estates in the Red Pond area. Beentjes collaborated with Steve Hammond of St. Maarten Recycle and Roy Tempels of Clean St. Maarten. Parties worked out a plan on how the collection area would be built, which garbage materials would be collected separate from the regular household garbage and how and when to pick up these items.

With the support of the Tamarind Hill Homeowners Foundation and the owners of Tamaridge Apartments (who made the land available), a garbage separation area was built.

Clean St. Maarten will pick up aluminium cans, plastic bottles, glass bottles and cartons from the area once a week. Beentjes has informed residents of the area about the initiative and received instructions on how to separate and dispose of the re-usable items in the collection area. “It is a small beginning with huge potential to limit the environmental impact of waste [in – Ed.] St Maarten. Every day many containers arrive [in – Ed.] St. Maarten with all kinds of articles and goods. At the end of the day almost everything ends up at the landfill. Now, there are businesses starting to show interest to collect certain garbage items and ship them off the island for recycling. If every community on the island can start with separating re-usable garbage we can lower the amount of garbage on the landfill, and maybe even, one day, we can have our own recycle facility on the island, which will create business opportunities and jobs,” Beentjes says.

The tourism industry, she added, has a growing interest in the environmental awareness of travel destinations. “This is also a very important reason to start separating and recycling our garbage. This way we, St. Maarten, do show that we care and take the environmental awareness seriously.”

Tourism Minister Claret Connor, who was present at Saturday’s launch, said he was impressed with the project and very pleased with the fact that there are young people on the island like Beentjes willing to give time and such effort. He said he hopes that Beentjes will continue her work by assisting other communities, schools, hotels and businesses in their recycling efforts and that this idea will be spread all over the island, which will be favourable to residents. He thanked Beentjes for her efforts and wished her good luck for the future.