First Shipment of Recyclable Plastics Expedited under Recycle OECS Project

January 16, 2023  — The first shipment of recyclable plastic waste has been dispatched under the Recycle OECS Project. The shipment out of Dominica left at the end of December 2023 for Honduras with an arrival date of January 10.

This project milestone also represents a significant first for the Dominica Solid Waste Management Corporation (DSWMC), the Waste Management agency leading the implementation of the Recycle OECS Model Demonstration Project in Dominica. While the DSWMC has been collecting and stockpiling recyclable plastics for some time now, through technical support provided under the Recycle OECS Project, the Corporation has now progressed from collection and storage to export in late December 2023.

This shipment was arranged through the commodity broker, Recycling and Waste Logistics of Trinidad and Tobago. Dominica’s first shipment comprised 65 bales of plastic at an estimated weight of 13 tonnes. The plastics were bound for a recycling manufacturer in Honduras, TerraPolyester S.A. de C.V. TerraPolyester is the largest recycling processing zone in the Western Hemisphere, exporting and reutilizing a variety of waste products. The company produces raw clean PET fakes, which are then further used in the recycling processes, and also produces premium polyester fiber from post-consumer PET packaging.

About Recycle OECS

The Recycle OECS Project is funded by the European Union, in collaboration with CARIFORUM, and implemented by Agence Française de Développement (AFD) in partnership with the Organisation of East Caribbean States (OECS).

The purpose of the RecycleOECS project is to undertake a comprehensive assessment of the OECS waste management sector, and develop and implement a model waste separation, collection, and recycling programme for the OECS that considers a regional approach, self-financing, sustainability, and business viability.