Why can they do it? That’s what some readers probably asked themselves when reading in Monday’s paper how Saba is relocating its waste burner to solve the smoke problem primarily in the St. John’s area.
It’s a vastly different situation in terms of volume alone, however, with the island’s population more than 10 times smaller than that of St. Maarten. In addition, Saba was burning garbage in an organised manner before at the landfill and is now only relocating and upgrading that process.
By contrast, the frequent fires at the dumps on Pond Island are unplanned, the result of a situation that has gotten completely out of control. In fact, similar steps to what Saba is doing could and should have been taken more than a decade ago, when it was becoming increasingly clear the growing “Trash Mountain” had surpassed its responsible lifespan.
That ship has long sailed, unfortunately, but while a structural and sustainable solution is sought, anything that can be done to stem the constant flow of waste, including better separation and recycling, deserves support. Those hills of crushed vehicles and other rusty scrap metal near the Little League Stadium may not look very nice, but if it can ultimately all be exported by barge as is currently being done, that alone would rid the island of a bunch of unwanted car wrecks.
The point is that even though one may not have an immediate golden answer to the entire problem, there are always things to be done. Sometimes it pays to simply start somewhere.
