11 October 2022
Joint working between the governments of St Helena and Ascension regarding recycling and waste management initiatives saw its first tangible achievement in September when two container loads of end of life tyres from Ascension Island arrived at St Helena for recycling.
Discussions on possible areas of waste management collaboration between the sister Islands of St Helena and Ascension have been taking place over the past few months.
Despite the willingness of both governments to make this tyre recycling system happen, it was only finally enabled when Andrew Weir Shipping kindly agreed that the tyres could be shipped free of charge, given that they were to be used for recycling purposes.
The news of this step forward was warmly welcomed by Minister of Environment, Natural Resources & Planning Portfolio, Christine Scipio, who commented:
“Tyre recycling is the most practical and an environmentally-friendly way of disposing of old or worn-out tyres and we welcome the initiative to support our sister Island, Ascension.”
Commenting on behalf of Ascension Island Government, Administrator, Sean Burns, said:
“I’d like to thank both teams for developing this idea, and for Andrew Weir Shipping for ultimately making it happen. Effective and responsible waste management is a challenge in our small Island communities, so being able to fruitfully repurpose waste in this way is a real positive. Hopefully Ascension and St Helena can continue to work together in the future to solve other issues we both face.”
Although this development does indicate considerable progress, recycling tyres is only a small part of a much wider discussion underway about how to reduce waste across both Islands.
Within 24 hours of the tyres arriving at Horse Point Landfill Site, all had been claimed for reuse in infrastructure projects within residential and commercial sites.
In December 2022, AIG and St Helena Waste Management Services are aiming to receive another two containers of end of life tyres, which will then be made available to the public.
#StHelena #AIG #Recycling #AltogetherGreener
SHG
11 October 2022