In November the Government of St. Maarten held the Public Tender for the management of the Sanitary Landfill and this tender was won by the locally owned company Robelto & Son B.V. for a contractual period of 2 years with a possibility of a one year extension.
The company has started operations since December 30th 2015 when a smooth transfer took place between the old and new contractor.
At present the contractor Robelto & Son B.V. is exploring together with the Department of Infrastructure Management the possibility to start recycling at a more greater scale on the landfill that is presently ongoing.
The Government has made recycling of various waste streams a part of the new garbage contracts and is also looking at the waste of the Cruise Industry when it comes to recycling of some specific streams to enhance the program to be started on the landfill. It’s the intention to use all existing partners in the field to get an end product that suits everyone’s needs and fulfills the goals of government which is to reduce the incoming waste on the landfill as much as possible. Presently 300 trucks with garbage are brought to the landfill every day. Also the recycling will work well in preparations for the Waste to Energy processing plant as it will be sorting the garbage (fuel for the plant) ahead of production start.
On February 7th 2016 the Minister of VROMI, Mr. Angel Meyers took a tour of the landfill and was accompanied by Mr. Claudius Buncamper; Department of Infrastructure Management, Mr. Leroy La Paix; Operations Manager at the Sanitary landfill and his executive staff Ms. Chantal Groeneveldt and Ms. Kimberly Meyers.
The Minister received a complete tour of the landfill and also was shown an aerial view of the total landfill. Various problematic areas have been shown and the need for the Waste to Energy plant.