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FORT-LIBERTE—For years, municipal authorities in Ouanaminthe, Fort-Liberté and Ferrier have struggled to keep up with the amount of waste generated in their towns. As a major transit point between Haiti and the Dominican Republic in Haiti’s Northeast Department, the towns often see mounds of trash and refuse pile up as people cross the countries, laden with various goods, agricultural products and personal baggage.
“For years, we have dreamed of having a modern waste site at our disposal to be able to recover waste and transform it,” said Jackson Polynice, a local pastor and president of the Solid Waste Recovery Center consortium.
Finally, the dream might become a reality for the three adjacent municipalities. Along with the government and other groups, the consortium is part of a broad effort to transform how the region handles waste. Specifically, they are working to construct a waste management plant in Dumas, located between the three towns, that can serve as both a landfill and waste transformation center.
Luckin Charles, departmental director of the Ministry of the Environment of the Northeast, said the state agency and the United Nations Development Program, with funding from Japan, are building a site for the recovery and burial of solid waste. The entities hope this $2 million project will help strengthen the solid waste management system in Haiti overall, provide a sustainable strategy for keeping the northeast clean and provide new revenue opportunities for local businesses.
The leaders of local municipalities benefiting from the project are pleased and hope the construction will not exceed the planned one-year deadline.
“It is more than urgent that the northeast department has a solid waste recovery and landfill site,” said Wideline Pierre, former departmental director for the Northeast at the Ministry of the Environment.
A long-building need
The Northeast comprises three border communes of 196,68 square miles that 171,000 residents call home, according to a 2022 report by construction firm GEOPLAN:
Because of its strategic proximity to the Dominican Republic, the region is home to two industrial parks — Compagnie de Developpement Industriel (CODEVI) in and the Industrial Park in Caracol (SONAPI) — producing mounds of waste from massive commercial activities. Lacking a formal regional development plan, robust environmental preservation and infrastructure and basic services has added to the waste management challenge.
As a result, the environment, public health, town landscapes and local economies have suffered from the lack of trash pickup and waste disposal.
“It is more than important for all of us to work and contribute to materialize this coveted project,” said Linés Similien, president of the Economic and Social Development Organization (ODSO), a solid waste management company.
To turn things around, the local effort also will entail garbage collection, recycling, composting and waste disposal to reduce the accumulation of waste and promote more sustainable waste management.
“Efforts have also been made to raise awareness among local people about the importance of waste management, reducing waste at source, selective sorting and other practices aimed at minimizing the environmental impact of waste,” Similien said.
For years, we have dreamed of having a modern waste site at our disposal to be able to recover waste and transform it.”
Jackson Polynice, President of the Solid Waste Recovery Center consortium
Building the dream
To build a modern landfill with reliable, essential infrastructure requires much time and money.
Japan is financing the entire project through the UNDP, according to the program document. According to a UNDP source, who asked that their name be used because they are not authorized to speak to the media, the cost of building the site is about $1.98 million. In 2021, when the project was first presented, it was estimated at $3.5 million. It is unclear why the figures may have changed over the past three years.
Before work began in November 2023, the Ministry of the Environment ordered a topographical and geological study to assess the potential environmental risks. Dumas, located between the three municipalities, met the criteria for building the 525,640-square foot landfill.
A view of the landfill construction site in Dumas, a communal section of the Fort-Liberté municipality, July 9, 2024. Photo by Edxon Francisque/The Haitian Times
Macaronne Gabriel, president of the Council of the Municipal Section of Dumas said that site was used for years as a public dump, anyway. However, inadequate management had led to an accumulation of untreated waste, posing environmental and health problems for the local population.
Pierre said for all these reasons, Dumas was the safest area and best geographically, geologically, environmentally and socially.
Opportunities, hope in waste
In November 2023, the site clean-up phase began, officially launching construction of the landfill.
“Our goal is to complete the construction of the site on time,” said Biken Neptune, president of the BK Construction Group, the project builder.
In February 2024, a second phase consisting of the construction began after receiving approval from the Ministry of the Environment. The builders are now in the third and final phase of construction.
“Construction will take one year,” Neptune said, meaning the estimated completion is November 2024.
During a project leaders meeting on July 2, Doudy Pierre, coordinator for Kiskeya Verte, a company that turns solid waste into gas and compost, was inspired by what he saw and heard.
“I hope the project will improve the artisanal sector and attract investors and that the State University of Haiti will send students there for internships,” Pierre said.
The post New landfill brings fresh waste management opportunities to Haiti’s northeast appeared first on The Haitian Times.
