The lack of progress when it comes to environmental issues – and especially waste management on Dutch St. Maarten – can be a tough pill to swallow. Plastic pollution in particular is a global concern with far-reaching consequences on the environment, health, and climate. The problem does not have a simple fix and is only expected to get worse, on a global scale. Exporting plastic waste to other countries, when it is even done, comes with its own limitations and issues. A breath of fresh air, in that regard, is the Perpetual Plastics programme, a project by local non-governmental organisation EPIC (Environmental Protection in the Caribbean). The programme recycles certain types of plastics locally, producing a variety of items, the sale of which can help it to be self-sustaining over time.
The public can take in their type-2 and -5 plastic waste on Tuesday, Friday and Saturday mornings, and know that it will be safely shredded and processed into useful items. This is an important and impactful development, especially with St. Maarten lagging behind, even compared to French St. Martin and other islands in the region.
The Weekender reached out to Fleur Hermanides, to find out some more details on the project, including the types of plastics that can be recycled, how to identify them, and what else is in store for the project. Hermanides is President of EPIC Sint Maarten. Along with Islaya Streefkerk, she is the visionary behind the Perpetual Plastics programme.
1: How is the plastic waste given to the organisation processed, and what items are being made from it?
When plastics are received, they are weighed (and totals calculated by source, such as the school it came from, the community, or a partnered business/organisation). The plastics are then cleaned, sorted, cut and shredded, and then melted and moulded via special machines and specifically designed moulds, such as an injector for smaller items and an extruder for larger items.
We can currently make quite a few products, such as combs, rulers, two different sized plant pots, small shovels/scoops, game pieces/pawns, coasters, smaller and larger beads (for bracelets, necklaces), doorknobs, rings, clips and carabiners, bowls, and Christmas ornaments.
There are also two very special pieces to us: A pendant of our national flower, the yellow sage, which is used for bracelets, keychains and necklaces; and one of our national bird, the brown pelican, which is used for keychains, earrings, magnets and necklaces.
We have a few more exciting moulds that we have recently acquired and will therefore be adding to the list soon. We will also be acquiring a sheet press in March, which means that we will be able to make new types of products, which are larger, such as table tops and letters/numbers for signs.
2: Why is the organisation only focusing on plastics type-2 and -5?
There are seven different categories of plastics and they all consist of different properties, they therefore also react different in the machinery for this purpose. Each type of plastic, based on their properties, also vary in safety for human use, especially when heated. The plastic types 2 (HDPE) and 5 (PP) are considered the safest for this purpose, and are therefore safest for recycling and re-using.
3: What practical issues are there with recycling type-1 plastic? It's one we come across a lot.
Although plastic type-1 PET is the most commonly used and found type of plastic, it is also known for its toxic properties, as well as the need for commercial facilities to be able to process this plastic properly. It is recyclable, but not locally, also as it is just a lot more difficult to recycle. It is something we've looked into and will continue to monitor, but just not feasible in such a small scale setting.
4: Is this similar to what is being done on Aruba and Curaçao? Can you give a brief description of what they're doing/ ideas you got from them?
Interestingly, all the Dutch Caribbean islands have been quite far ahead of us in terms of recycling locally. Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao have similar initiatives on their respective islands for a few years already, and have been doing quite well.
EPIC initially looked into the idea in 2017/2018, but the post-Irma and then pandemic time were not appropriate for such actions. EPIC is, however, in close contact with a few of these initiatives and share information and ideas quite often with them; it is great to be able to get advice from each other as well. We are looking into a more structured partnership in the future.
Most focus on types 2 and 5, but one in particular was also recycling type-1 PET, which would be processed into recycled filament to 3D print. This initially worked alright, but it is a difficult process, and is therefore at a standstill at the moment. It also creates quite a bit of microplastics, which is something you want to avoid.
We actually have three team members visiting Curaçao right now, for an educational exchange programme. They’ve visited the recycling facility and collection sites, seen the youth education programme, taken part in a clean-up, and saw first-hand how recycled plastics are being used to make items such as garbage bins and planters. A team from Curaçao will visit St. Maarten for a similar trip, in March.
5: Do you plan to incorporate other types of plastic in the future? Or other materials such as wood, cardboard, metal or glass?
There is more information circulating about the possibilities of recycling type-4 LDPE in our systems, which has very similar properties to types 2 and 5, but is also a much less common plastic. It can be found in items such as food storage containers.
Our focus would stay more on the varying plastic types, other non-plastic recyclables are currently best to be processed in bigger facilities abroad, but some can also be used in small scale for things such as composting, as is the case for wood chips and cardboard, which is a project we've been hoping to do more with locally in the future as well.
For other items such as glass, we try to re-use as much as possible within our workspace as well as we do with cardboard. We also recycle paper at our workspace; we use it to make the labels for our products, and are in the process of collecting other items to use for packaging material ensuring other organisations can be more sustainable as well.
6: Any special requests or tips for those who want to recycle plastic with you? Can you provide a quick reference on what is typically type-2 or -5?
For anyone who would like to contribute – private homes, businesses, organisations, or schools – you can drop your type-2 and -5 plastics off at our workspace in Cole Bay (next to Burger King, across Almond Grove) on Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturday mornings.
Typical plastics within these categories are bottle caps, containers for cleaning products (such as Clorox, large Palmolive, Disiclin, laundry detergent and softener), dairy containers (such as yoghurt, cream cheese, sour cream) and many other food products such as microwave safe-food containers (such as take out, Tupperware), but also common things used in the bathroom such as containers for toothpaste, shampoo, conditioner, and body wash.
It is also possible to start up a partnership with the Perpetual Plastics Project whereby our team can do a walk-through to see what typical items are 2 and 5 within your organisation and make specific flyers for this purpose.
To stay up to date on all developments, make sure to follow Perpetual Plastics on Instagram (@perpetualplasticsxm) and Facebook (@epicislands). For more information or partnerships, feel free to reach out to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
