Simon Dieuseul Desras, the Minister of Environment in his speech at a conference debate "Tourism and environment for responsible management", organized by the Tourism Association of Haiti (ATH) declared "At the time I speaks you, it is not possible to say with accuracy the amount of waste produced in the country. Summary assessments show that solid waste is estimated at 30,000 tons per year while household garbage represent 912.500 tons per year. As for the other categories of waste: demolition, green waste, industrial and commercial waste, hospital waste, sweepings, production would reach almost 3 million tonnes. Currently it is estimated that the total production of waste in the country exceeds five million tonnes per year," adding, "[...] In some countries, waste is considered as an economic opportunity, in Haiti is a nuisance [...]"

The Minister Desras announced the creation of the National Service of Management of Solid Waste (SNGRS) who will be responsible jointly with communities, of the management of the entire waste sector on the entire Haitian territory and the definition of the national consultation on waste management policy with communities.

In his speech, Nathalie Brunet, co-owner of the firm Ayiti Nexus explained the impact of waste on the hotel industry "Foreign tourism investment are undermined by the waste situation in Haiti" She said that in a study, it was highlighted the lack of infrastructure for the collection and treatment of waste in priority areas dedicated to tourism "generally the hotel are required to manage waste themselves or be creative."

Pierre Chauvet, of the Federation of Friends of Nature, found that according to its own studies, the capital rose by 20, from 1,100 tonnes per day to 6,000 tonnes per day in 2016 ... recalling that the haitian state only menage to collect 30% of this waste volume.

Following this conference, ATH has encouraged some companies which include: Wynne Farm, Anacaona, Tropical Recycling, Biofule of Haiti to propose solutions for waste recycling.

TB/ HaitiLibre