That the new generators should be operational early next week (see related story) is good news. Many had expected it to be a bit earlier but the necessary fuel-lines and -pumps have only now arrived.
It’s still before the election on August 19, which will no doubt be welcomed by those directly involved. Not every polling station reportedly has a working generator at this time and while voting is a mostly daytime thing, campaigning by political parties and candidates goes on after dark during the preceding evenings.
Looking ahead, it is interesting to note that a waste-to-energy plant is still on the table in Curaçao. Despite the fact that utilities provider Aqualectra hopes to get 50% of its power from renewable sources once the new windmills at Koraal Tabak are in function, the island’s waste management company Selikor considers extensive re-use combined with incineration an option, as continuing to bury practically all trash at the Malpais landfill is not sustainable.
Sound familiar? In St. Maarten too much has been said and written about waste-to-energy, gasification, etcetera at the dump near Philipsburg. Efforts are ongoing to restructure and improve the sanitary landfill as a project with means from the Dutch-sponsored post-Hurricane Irma Trust Fund administered by the World Bank and executed by the National Recovery Program Bureau (NRPB).
Ultimately, a different system of processing is needed, including separation before collection, sorting and recycling. Burning what is not reusable to produce electricity, as long as done in an environmentally-responsible manner, seems to make sense, because – as the saying goes – it kills two birds with one stone.
