Page 11 - AHATA

Monday 25 July 2022 locAl
A10

Minister Ursell Arends:

“We must start by stopping the flow of waste arriving at the dump”

Recently the Aruban min- After speaking with vari- with minister Arends, that
ister of Transport, Integrity, ous stakeholders, listening from the 22nd of August
Nature and Elderly Adults to them, the government 2022 it will no longer be pos-
Affair, Mr. Ursell Arends, has a better understand- sible to bring old tires to the
presented a change pro- ing of the waste industry. dump and Parkietenbos.
cess which will take place The concluded that locally Emerencia said that “it’s
regarding waste manage- there is the necessary ex- time for us to begin being
ment. pertise and infrastructure to more healthy in the way in
effectively process all kinds which we handle and pro-
Since the 22nd of February, of waste. cess waste”.
Arends announced that
the process of change will He also said that not all Eduard Jimenez, opera-
take about 10 years, and type of waste process that tions manager at Ecotech
that it started last week. they found is perfect, but Freezone said that they
Serlimar, Ecotech [both ture waste management, Once that stage is com- any method of waste pro- are very happy to be part
waste management com- is reorganizing where the pleted, the waste portfolio cessing that doesn’t consist of the solution to the chal-
panies], the Department of waste ends up and how it is will be reorganized into one of simply throwing this away lenges that Aruba is facing
Nature and Environment, processed. “In order for us that is focused on circular on a landfill or burning it in regarding waste manage-
and Bureau City Inspector to close the dump at Par- economy and on develop- open air is already a step in ment. The company he
came together to explain kietenbos, we must start by ing a waste sector that is the right direction towards represents exists from 1985,
the following steps regard- stopping the flow of waste robust and sustainable. As a responsible waste man- and in 2018, they created
ing waste management. arriving at the dump”, he Arends said, already the agement. Ecotech Freezone, which
said. private sector proved to is a recycling plant that is
Currently, Aruba’s econo- have the capacity and ex- The goal, according to Ar- professional and unique in
my is linear – Take – Make In order for there not to be pertise in the area of waste ends, is to stop the fires and the Caribbean.
– Use – Throw Away – but more fires at the dump, Ar- processing. close the dump in Parki-
it needs to be urgently re- ends emphasized that we etenbos. “This will also help Since five years ago they
structured. The steps will need to stop fueling these “In a circular economy, us continue stimulating to are in charge of processing
also be taken as fast as fires, which means slowly waste doesn’t exist, the reach the main goal, that a large amount of waste
possible in order to achieve and gradually reducing way to handle waste is to of a circular economy, and on Aruba, both residential
this restructuring. the amount of waste arriv- recover the materials and we are doing this gradually. and commercial, but they
ing at the dump, by direct- the value”, he said. For Today is the start”, he said. are aware that it’s still nec-
Arends explained that the ing the waste somewhere this reason the platform essary to close the dump.
first step they are work- else where it can be pro- ‘Trash 2 Cash’ was started, No more tires received at This is the first step to reach
ing on, in order to restruc- cessed responsibly. in order to ‘symbolize’ that Parkietenbos from the 22nd that goal.
waste has an economic of August Their role in this is to re-
value and also in order Jermaro Emerencia, PR of ceive and process the old
for the community to start Serlimar was also present tires. Afterwards, they will
changing the way they at the same press confer- hand those over to another
think about the meaning of ence. He said that on the company to complete the
waste. 19th of August 2019, Ser- process. Ecotech Freezone
limar and Ecotech Freez- also has an agreement
Arends said that during the one reached an agree- with another company al-
first months in his role as min- ment that some types of ready where they receive
ister, they identified differ- waste, like old tires, eventu- tires to continue helping
ent kinds of waste and the ally would be processed by Aruba reach the next level,
amount of each one arriv- Ecotech. Last week the de- in order to be cleaner and
ing currently at the dump. cision was made, together have less pollution.q