310 tonnes scrap metal removed from Saba – updated photos

Cadwell Inc., the United States-based compa­ny that has been contracted by the public entity Saba to remove all recyclables from the island, has already taken 310 tonnes of scrap metal off the island.

“This is a fine example of cooperation between pri­vate American companies, local contractors in Saba, and the Saba government,” said Cadwell Inc. Chief Ex­ecutive Officer (CEO) An­drew Cadwell. Cadwell Inc. is also in the process of removing card­board, plastic bottles, glass and car tyres from the is­land.

In total, Cadwell Inc. will transport approximately 85 tonnes of cardboard, five tonnes of plastic, 30 tonnes of crushed glass and 500 car tyres from Saba to a recy­cling facility in the US. The materials were collected and separated in recent years since the island started re­cycling.

A large number of car wrecks were collected in the past weeks during a clean­up campaign. The wrecks were taken to the landfill where they were completely stripped of plastic, rubber and other non-metal, to in­crease the value of the met­al. A large batch of refrig­erators have been stripped and processed as well.
The scrap metal was trans­ported to Puerto Rico, where local authorities that are always very critical of what is imported for re­cycling, reported that the scrap metal was above-av­erage clean. In the coming weeks and months, Cadwell Inc. will continue processing and removing recyclables from the island in successive transports.

“The entire process went very smoothly, also due to the good preparation of our people, and we are pleased with the cooperation with Cadwell Inc.,” said Com­missioner Bruce Zagers. He said Saba was most certainly on the right track where it concerns recycling, but that the government wanted to keep improving in the com­ing years.

The good news of the re­moval of recyclables by a US company and the positive results of Saba’s recycling programme has reached US Ambassador in the Nether­lands Pete Hoekstra, who will be visiting the island on November 14.

Also visiting Saba on that day will be several repre­sentatives of St. Maarten’s waste management sector to be informed of how Saba has succeeded in separating waste and recycling waste to a large extent in recent years. Saba wants to ex­tend the cooperation with the other islands, to share know-how, improve waste management in the region, assist each other and to re­duce cost for all parties.

Commissioner Zagers ex­plained that in moving for­ward, the possibilities for physical adjustments to en­hance waste processing in Saba are ongoing. This will further reduce the amount of waste that is incinerated and in turn will lead to lower emissions during the burn­ing process in the air burner equipment.

GIS Saba