Professor Moore highlights waste challenge

“WE have a developing country with a developed country waste problem.”

This observation comes from Professor of Economics, Winston Moore, who says this is not a good combination since the country does not have the funds to support that reality.

He was participating in a panel discussion on Wednesday, hosted by the final year social work students from the Social Work Programme at the University of the West Indies Cave Hill Campus, in celebration of World Social Work Day.

According to Professor Moore, a quantity-based recycling scheme along with mandatory legislation and public awareness exercises could go a long way to tackle the management of waste in Barbados.

During his presentation, Professor Moore, looked at waste from the perspective of the disposal rates and the economic incentives which have been used in other countries and told the audience that one of the most useful approaches to incentivising people is through these quantity-based recycling schemes.

“Essentially what it does is pay you for the amount of garbage… the amount of recyclables that you put roadside… Who pays for that is an issue for discussion but it is something that has been tried in other countries,” he said.

He stressed that the research also suggests that just having a payment scheme alone will not work. Also needed are mandatory recycling laws and by making the process of pick-up easier and more reliable would lead to greater success. He noted that this is a very simple approach which would not cost the community a lot of money.

The professor noted that the downside to that option is that it would not necessarily motivate persons to reduce the amount of waste generated if they are being paid per bag. In his research he noted that in some countries, homeowners can be paid an annual fee for 52 tagged bags of recycling material which could be scanned.