State Secretary of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations Raymond Knops told the Second Chamber of Parliament in The Hague (see Wednesday paper) that waste management will be a major component of St. Maarten’s recovery programme. That is good news for residents, particularly those experiencing nuisance from the frequently-smoking dump on Pond Island.
His point about cooperating with the French side on this matter is well taken. There are all kinds of sensible arguments for a joint approach, including cost-effectiveness, economy of scale, and efficiency.
That France also favours addressing the issue together is news. The local public had been told in the recent past that there was no interest in doing so north of the border.
Of course, it’s true that St. Martin currently has more-developed garbage collection and separation as well as recycling compared to the Dutch side, but it’s certainly not perfect either. There undoubtedly remains room for improvement and an island-wide effort to create an environmentally-responsible waste-processing system would indeed seem in the best interest of the entire population and – also very important – the tourism economy.
This does not mean existing plans should necessarily be thrown out, but the rebuilding funds made available by the Netherlands via the World Bank do offer a possibility of making investments to once and for all tackle this growing challenge in a structurally-sound way that does not create other problems later.
