Montserrat’s first national recycling and single-use plastic reduction programme has come to an end after more than six years, following a struggle to secure sustainable funding.
The project’s closure marks the end of an initiative that helped divert millions of glass bottles from landfill and reduce the island’s reliance on single-use plastics.
Scuba Montserrat launched the EcoMontserrat project in 2018 with the help of a Darwin Plus Initiative grant from the United Kingdom.
Over the years, the programme introduced recycling collection bins to more than 60 bars, restaurants, and six community drop-off points or bottle banks across the island.
It supplied thousands of reusable bags to residents, and gave non-plastic eco-friendly cups, containers, straws and utensils to hospitality venues.
The EcoMontserrat team also contributed to beach clean-ups, multiple youth education programmes and held weekly online environmental talks during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Funding drought
The initial three years of grant funding was extended through the support of the Montserrat Governor’s Office until April 2022.
When that finished, donations, highly streamlined operations and glass repurposing projects helped to stretch the project further.
Then recently, conservation and health and wellness non-profit Island Solutions funded the initiative almost in its entirety.
“Unfortunately we are unable to continue to fund the project ourselves” said Andrew and Emmy of Island Solutions in a press release on 3 October.
They said the Montserrat community has been “all in” on the green initiatives and they feel like things have changed for the better.
“But much of what we have done should be government funded or government-led,” they wrote.
“We have set what we feel is a great foundation for how these green programmes can be successful, even on a small island.
“But the realty is that they aren’t revenue generating businesses but require funds to make them happen.”
Efforts of many
In the press release, the Island Solutions team asked for the help of the public and local businesses to support the continuation of the project which they said “will require the efforts of many”.
They asked for people to actively reuse the glass sand and aggregate which can be mixed into concrete, used for drainage and some decorative purposes.
“It can be made into counter tops, benches, outdoor patios and flooring. We provide it for free and are happy to advise on uses,” Andrew and Emmy said.
“We had hoped the government would use this while building support platforms and buildings for the port, but this has not been the case.”
They said the government provided a small section of land for the EcoMontserrat processing facility, but that has reached maximum capacity and they can only continue with more space.
Finally, they asked both residents and visitors to let the government know that people want recycling and do not want single-use plastics.
Aside from the EcoMontserrat programme, Island Solutions had been active in several other projects to protect, preserve and restore the marine ecosystem and provide life skills such as swimming.
“Thank you, Montserrat, for being part of the positive changes that the world needs to make a better planet for us now and future generations,” Andrew and Emmy said.
Montserrat Focus has reached out to the Ministry of Environment for a comment and is awaiting a response.
