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Bermudians produce more waste per capita than New Yorkers. In fact, for each Bermuda resident, nine and a half pounds of waste are created. And while there are many factors that make direct comparisons difficult, one thing is clear: we are a wasteful society.

We don’t need to make our possessions last a lifetime. We don’t need to make do and mend. If it’s broke, we don’t have to fix it. If fashions change we don’t have to live with something that doesn’t fit our new look or style. Most people can afford to go out and buy a new one (whatever it is) and simply put the old one in the trash. Ultimately what price do we pay for our wasteful habits?

Let’s look at the numbers. Currently it costs $129 to collect and $95 to dispose of each tonne of residential waste.

Each year we are producing three to four per cent more garbage than the year before. With waste levels increasing the facilities for handing our waste are fast approaching maximum capacity.

Building and maintaining further waste management facilities will cost money – and will result an increased waste disposal bill. Is this a good thing to be spending money on?

Currently most of our waste is burned at the Tynes Bay Incinerator. The incinerator burns 288 tonnes of waste a day. Ash from the incineration process is mixed with concrete to form ash blocks. These blocks are placed in Castle Harbour as part of a land reclamation scheme at the airport waste facility. Since much of this waste was originally imported as goods into Bermuda, you could argue that we’re burning money – we pay to import it, we pay to dispose of it, and we haven’t even got the full use out of it.

Not only is waste increasing, it is changing in its nature. Over the next 10 years, it is projected that 60,000 televisions, computers and other electronics equipment will become obsolete and require disposal.

This is a cause for concern as electronics have a high lead content, which is known to have serious negative effects on children’s brain development and has high acute and chronic toxic effects on plants and animals. In one study, cadmium, a metal used in batteries was found in high levels near the dump.

More studies must be done, however, as these levels could have simply been the result of Hurricane Fabian stirring up the ocean floor.

What should we do with this waste? Currently, most ‘hazardous’ waste is difficult to dispose of in Bermuda in an environmentally acceptable way and is shipped from the Sallyport Facility to special hazardous waste processing plants in the US.

Should we be forced to pay more if we are importing goods into Bermuda which will eventually become hazardous waste?

Many people are concerned about recycling. Recyclables are processed at the Devon Springs Facility. Bermuda does recycle, just not as much as it could.

To address this, a new plant is in the pipeline, which will increase our capacity.

We do have a pretty good record of recycling used motor oil, though, which is good news for our water lens.

And we also compost 18,000 tones of horticultural waste a year.

At one of our public meetings a resident claimed that the free compost available from Marsh Folly was one of the best things about the island!

How much waste do you produce? Here is a sampling of what Bermudans responded to our survey:

“We are a throw away society;”

“Bermudians just like new things;”

“We are victims of our own success;”

“Our increased disposable income equals more individualistic attitudes and more materialism;”

“We are simply at the mercy of overseas

exporters;”

“Bermudians are now consuming like

Americans.”

But I wonder how much these respondents actually recycle themselves?

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