A partnership between the Tourism Product Development Company (TPDCo) and Recycling Partners of Jamaica (RPJ) to reduce plastic pollution in resort areas will see about 40 million bottles collected each year.
Since the pilot, which took place in October 2021, several businesses have come on board to include 12 partners in Ocho Rios, 14 in Montego Bay and one in Kingston, with other partnerships being negotiated.
The Tourism Sector Recycling Partnership Initiative has been lauded by Executive Director of the National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA), Audley Gordon who described the initiative as “excellent”.
“We see it as a plus,” he said.
The NSWMA is the entity responsible for providing solid waste management services to safeguard public health, while helping to create an environment that is healthy and aesthetically pleasing for both residents and visitors to enjoy.
Gordon added that the authority welcomes any partnership that will lessen the amount of garbage and plastic being accumulated across the island, “once it is moved in a responsible way from the public space and the different communities” to identified drop-off locations.
“We want to hear of more partnerships, and we encourage it because this is our Jamaica and if everybody plays their part, we will have the clean Jamaica that all of us should desire,” he added.
Under the Tourism Sector Recycling Partnership Initiative, the RPJ supplies recycling cages to participating establishments to store plastic containers, while the TPDCo provides them with collection point receptacles.
Once an establishment agrees to participate in the programme, an agreement is signed signalling a commitment to contact the RPJ for pickup of the separated plastic waste.
