Key takeaways from Caribbean Climate-Smart Accelerator’s discussion on circular living in the Caribbean

Photo: Caribbean Climate Smart Accelerator. Retrieved from virgin.com

Alongside Caribbean government leaders, Virgin Unite and Richard Branson are involved in the coalition of partners who founded the Caribbean Climate-Smart Accelerator (CCSA) in 2018.

The CCSA recently hosted a discussion about recycling and circular living in the Caribbean, and what can be done to encourage more recycling in the area. Judlyn Telesford-Checkley, CEO and founder of Grenada Grows, Kimberley Phillip-Daniel, project officer of the Environmental Management Authority managed Recyclable Solid Waste Collection Project (RSWCP) and Dr Damien King Chairman of Recycling Partners of Jamaica (RPJ) joined Dianne Squires, the CCSA’s communications consultant to discuss some of their triumphs and tribulations in establishing recycling programmes in the region.

Dr King said that Recycling Partners of Jamaica works with manufacturers of plastic bottles to encourage recycling. Many of the big manufacturers – including Pepsi – have a long history of wanting to take responsibility for the waste that they produce, however to successfully address the problem, it needs to be done in a coordinated way across all manufacturers.

“It’s a growing problem, it’s a huge environmental problem and it is best tackled collectively – rather than individually by the manufacturers, who are competitors in many ways,” he said. “And these manufacturers have contributed towards plastic bottle recycling, extending their responsibility to the entire product lifecycle.”