Young environmentalist in uphill recycling battle!
Pickering suggested that recycling plastics could be turned into an industry and wanted to start a recycling programme in the VI but did not have the means to complete the whole process. Mr Pickering said he was in need of bins in certain strategic areasto aid his project.
Currently, the plastics he has collected, sorted and packed for recycling are stored in the back of a shipping container and temporary located at Baughers Bay. “Even though it may not appear to have much value, it still has some value,” he said with earnest. He added that he was only at step one of the process and was hopeful that he would be able to advance from there sooner rather than later, especially given the space constraints he was facing.
Another issue of his is having a means of shipping the material he has collected to be recycled to places such as Puerto Rico, New Jersey and other places that do recycling.
Mr Pickering said he had approached both the current and previous Premiers in person, but was unsuccessful in his quest for assistance in the project. The young environmentalist said he also approached the Overseas Territories Environment Programme (OTEP) but was unsuccessful in this regard as well.
He is fast running out of space to store his recycled plastic materials and was hopeful that someone would hear his appeal and be kind enough to offer a space to accommodate some of the products he has accumulated over the almost two years he has so far been collecting supplies.
“The space doesn’t belong to me,” said Pickering, “this is what could be saved... and it’s only about a year or two of effort. I was the only person [involved in the project] and if I had a little bit of help too, a lot more could have been done.”
Pickering said that even though others have not been able to see the long term benefits of what he is doing and might think the endeavour is not worthwhile, he is not discouraged but will continue to persevere.
He is hopeful that he will not have to discard his two years worth of work simply because he has run out of space. The clock continues to countdown on him, however.
Any interested parties wishing to contact Mr Pickering can reach him at rrpworldwide@yahoo.comor telephone 540-3232.
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12 Responses to “Young environmentalist in uphill recycling battle!”
You comparing a guy who spent 2 yrs trying to full up a trailer with plastic bottles to people that actually running a functioning operation? Give it a rest. I'm local and glad to see the young man doing something positive. He's now asking for assistance because he cannot do it on his own. Why do you have to bring up the fact that government assisting another entity? Last time I was there, it was locals operating the stuff so hush your dumb a$$. IF we all depended on a local to hire us we would be eating mangrove and drinking $#it water.
In any event, I hope you find the assistance that you are looking for. Try contacting the Department of Waste Management to see if they can offer some assistance.
How are you separating the different types of plastics and getting rid of labels etc which will contaminate the the product when it is re-melted?