Haiti’s North builds first of new landfills to tackle waste crisis

CAP-HAÏTIEN — It took a year instead of three months as initially planned. Still, at last, the pilot project for a waste management site with a capacity of 12,000 to 15,000 cubic meters officially completed construction in Mouchinette, Limonade, a northern commune less than 10 miles south of Cap-Haïtien, on Feb. 26. 

Funded by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the $35 million project aims to address the severe trash management issues— notably in regional cities, including Cap-Haïtien, Quartier-Morin and Limonade— that have been overwhelming residents for years.

“We’re getting it done, aren’t we?” a grinning Joaneson Lacour, director of ProPublic Sam, the company responsible for constructing the Center for Management and Valorization of Waste (CMVW) site, said. 

“Even though it looks small — it’s a small but big step for the country and for the north,” Lacour added. “A lot of people can copy what we did. It’s very important for the north to lead the way in waste management, valorization, integration and recycling.”

In Cap-Haïtien, the central city of the Northern Department, the waste management pilot project has received positive feedback. It could help address one of the area’s most pressing issues: trash. Many streets are lined with long queues and large piles of garbage, as city administrators have not collected waste from residents’ homes for months due to a shortage of vehicles and waste management sites.

Lacour stated that city officials plan to schedule trash pickup in front of residents’ homes for a fee. However, he did not provide a start date or the cost residents would need to pay for the service. If implemented, this initiative will significantly improve Cap-Haïtien’s appearance, a city often criticized by visitors for its mismanagement of waste.

As a pilot project, the new waste management site can only exploit trash for three to six months. It was initially supposed to be 40,000 to 50,000 cubic meters deep, which could process waste for 12 to 18 months. It is unclear why the builders made the site smaller. The authorities did not explain what the timing of utilization means either.

According to the engineers working on the project, after completion, the plan is to have four waste sites, each of which will be three times bigger than the pilot one. The project’s space should be about 180,000 cubic meters, as funded by IDB.

Altogether, the waste management site would be able to process trash for 25 years without major issues, engineers said.

A look inside the landfill

The waste site is slightly tilted to the left to prevent soil compaction after heavy rainfalls, which could damage it. After digging, workers added clay to accelerate infiltration. They then placed a geomembrane, a black plastic sheet that will stop the liquid waste from penetrating the soil.

Only garbage trucks with a special sticker on a list will be allowed to enter the landfill. After entering the space, the trucks will be weighed before entering the site. Christopher Etienne, a representative of Bien Nettoyer — a waste management company and one of ProPublic Sam’s partners — said during the inauguration that the truck driver must wear boots and a vest.

“The rules must be followed,” Etienne said.

Here are some images from the site’s inauguration.

ProPublic Sam and the three northern city halls encountered numerous challenges before the project could begin. For example, they had to battle for the land and finally received full permission to use it following a decree in 2022. 

Additionally, heavy rainfalls were frequent in November and December, making it very difficult to dig the landfill.

“This is a big victory that was won with pain,” Gesner Dieudonné, Limonade’s mayor, said during the inauguration. “We fought with conviction… We will fix this trash problem that is daunting to us.”

Residents hope for clean streets and jobs

Frantzley Noël, a civil engineer from Bel Air, a neighborhood in Cap-Haïtien, cannot stand walking next to trash. He prefers to put trash in his bag instead of littering. Noël appreciates the project and hopes that leaders will follow through with it.

The project could potentially provide jobs and Noël is ready to apply.

“They are doing a beautiful thing, and I think there will be results. Let’s wait and see,” Noël, 24, said. “For me, I’m young and capable, so I’m going to drop my resume.”

The post Haiti’s North builds first of new landfills to tackle waste crisis appeared first on The Haitian Times.