To: The Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago(T&T), Dr. Keith Rowley.

Green Heart Mission T&T: As our first goal, let us recycle FULL HEARTEDLY.

As citizens of Trinidad and Tobago, we know we need focus on creating an efficient recycling industry for the four major sectors, being:

1/ metal, mainly aluminum
2/ plastic
3/ paper
4/ glass

We suggest using coloured bins and/or bags in order for members of the public communities to more easily identify the different recyclables.

We have quite a few companies in T&T committed to recycling which means we are clearly not using them to their full extent considering the amount of garbage we throw away everyday(more than 2 metric tonnes per day). Imagine how much money we could save if we could recycle or reuse even one quarter of that, let alone how many jobs can be created.

We should mimic countries which have practiced recycling more successfully like Switzerland, for example.

We also encourage the proper methods of disposal to be implemented for items which cannot be recycled since they go hand in hand with some of the points listed on the importance of recycling below.

Why is this important?

Recycling is of utmost importance because, if done properly, economy and the environment grow more quickly when grown together as illustrated below:

1-a) Smaller negative environmental impact with regards to: water(one of the major renewables) being polluted by landfills via batteries, mercury, lead and other hazardous chemicals from companies and agriculture. Proper methods of disposal in combination with recycling leads to a great creation of jobs and better health for the citizens; for example: more fishermen and women catch healthier fishes in a more widespread area, recycling hazardous waste prevents it from going into the landfill where it seeps into the ground and damages the local ecosystem and water supply.

1-b) Smaller negative environmental impact with regards to:
the action of recycling substantially cuts back on logging and mining(e.g less raw materials required in producing glass) which are destructive to wildlife habitats. In turn illegal quarrying in our twin islands will be more easily curbed.

1-c) Smaller negative environmental impact with regards to: Straight out of the mouth of the National Recycling Coalition, “When one ton of steel is recycled, 2,500 pounds of iron ore, 1,400 pounds of coal and 120 pounds of limestone are conserved.” which means that importation costs will be significantly minimized.

2) Direct creation of jobs: statistics show that, AT LEAST, for every 1 job in waste management there could be 4 jobs in the recycling industry instead.

3) Much smaller carbon footprint AND energy usage during production of materials. For example: If a soda company has the resources to produce aluminum cans from recycled material it will reduce its energy consumption by approximately 95%. For plastic bottles, recycling saves the company up to 70% in energy usage. Aluminum can be efficiently recycled to 100% of the material if done properly!

4) Divestment from landfills in place of the above:
with rising sea levels, the areas which are being landfilled will be the ones initially affected by the rising sea level...think future!

5) The more people recycle, the less companies have to spend to sell their products, and thus the less goods will cost.

6) Recycling encourages less littering which means a cleaner, more touristic T&T which in turn means more foreign currencies entering our twin islands.

7) If the country works together, meaning to say: government, leaders of different sectors, families, individuals, etc we truly do become one nation which is our motto...together we aspire, together we achieve.

#GreenHeartMission

Trinidad and Tobago

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