Mr. Lexington Bedford, Manager of the Sanitary Landfill, represented the St. Kitts Solid Waste Management Corporation (SWMC) at the recently held 28th Annual Caribbean Water and Wastewater Association (CWWA) Conference and Exhibition, which was hosted at the St. Kitts Marriott Resort. The aim of the workshop is to provide stakeholders with several opportunities to develop solutions to seriously tackle waste management in the region. The conference was held from October 14-17, 2019.

Minister responsible for the SWMC and Environmental Health Eugene Hamilton spoke at a High Level Forum at the conference. He spoke to the challenges faced by Small Island Developing States of the Caribbean during his presentation on Wednesday, October 16.
“This high-level forum gives us an opportunity to really discuss and present outcomes… It gives us an opportunity to delve into and produce outcomes that can reduce the risk of the challenge of waste in our region,” said Minister Hamilton. “As a region, we have an opportunity not just to talk about these challenges, but we have an opportunity, perhaps an obligation, to plan and execute policies and programmes, projects and systems to ensure that this region can deal with our waste issues in a timely manner.”

He explained that the challenges faced with respect to water and wastewater cannot be tackled entirely by governments of the region.

“It is essential that there is a role for the region’s private sector and strong and tactical alliance with key associations and organizations including [but not limited to] the Chamber of Industry and Commerce, manufacturing associations, hotel and tourism associations…” said Minister Hamilton. “It cannot be done by governments alone. That therefore suggests that we cannot approach dealing with waste like any other serious challenge with a top-down approach, but a bottom-up approach to resolving, to finding solutions of how to deal with waste.”

The Caribbean Water and Wastewater Association (CWWA) is a regional non governmental organization established by an Act of Parliament in Trinidad & Tobago in 1991. The CWWA is a grouping of water, wastewater and solid waste professionals in the public and private sectors. CWWA brings together the water and sanitation community in the Caribbean towards the protection of public health and the promotion of sustainable development. Through collective leadership, CWWA positively influences advancements in technology, education, science, management, and country and regional policies in the water and sanitation field.

(This press release was supplemented with information from the St. Kitts and Nevis Information Service)