London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Wednesday, Oct 01, 2025

How one island territory is getting creative with upcycling and reuse

The British Virgin Islands experienced recycling challenges long before commodity market shifts. Now, the failure of a critical incinerator has prompted a whole new materials management plan.

A new waste management system coming to the British Virgin Islands (BVI) offers a different vision from traditional recycling programs. Rather than exporting everything, local residents are looking for ways to turn glass into art, Styrofoam into beanbag chairs, plastic into fence boards and cardboard into compost.

This was initiated in part by a gas tank explosion in the island of Tortola's incinerator last November. The resulting fire, which took the territory's main disposal infrastructure offline, was the latest of multiple waste-related fires the Caribbean territory of 30,000 had seen in recent months. Hurricane Irma also left behind piles of flammable debris after it ravaged the islands in 2017.

Now, the broken incinerator had further exacerbated a problem that has long plagued the BVI and island nations across the world: how to handle their waste.

Following these issues, the BVI government signed a memorandum of understanding with nonprofit Green VI to implement a territory-wide recycling system in April. The new program plans to keep the majority of the waste on the island by partnering with local businesses and entrepreneurs that "upcycle" waste as raw material input.

"Islands are quite unique in terms of waste management because really we're too far away from markets to make recycling a feasible thing," said Green VI President Charlotte McDevitt.


Isolated markets

A 2016 publication from the Inter-American Development Bank that looked at solid waste management in nine Caribbean countries found they "face similar challenges in regard to solid waste management such as increasing solid waste generation, changes in waste characterization, lack of adequate disposal sites and low collection rates." While this didn't include the BVI, many of the same factors apply.

When the incinerator was working, it processed about 100 to 120 tons of waste per day, according to Neville Allen, acting assistant manager for the BVI's Department of Waste Management. Allen is hoping to divert about 40% of that by taking plastic, glass and aluminum out of the waste stream.

"The main thing is to get these items out of the waste stream. So anyone that can process them, we'll gladly give them these items to recycle," he said.

McDevitt is more optimistic, aiming for 50% within the first year and 70% by year three. She estimates it will cost around $12 million over five years to build and operate small-scale material recovery facilities on each of the BVI's four major islands. The proposed facilities will sort and process materials for upcycling, composting or exporting. ​

For materials such as aluminum and iron, the price per ton is often high enough to cover the costs of compaction and freight, making it more economical to ship off island. For other materials that don't garner high enough prices, the BVI is one of many islands turning to local business owners and entrepreneurs to find innovative ways of using waste as a resource.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
Lilly CEO Warns UK Is ‘Worst Country in Europe’ for Drug Prices, Pulls Back Investment
Nigel Farage Emerges as Central Force in British Politics with Reform UK Surge
Disney Reinstates ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ after Six-Day Suspension over Charlie Kirk Comments
U.S. Prosecutors Move to Break Up Google’s Advertising Monopoly
Nvidia Pledges Up to $100 Billion Investment in OpenAI to Power Massive AI Data Center Build-Out
U.S. Signals ‘Large and Forceful’ Support for Argentina Amid Market Turmoil
Nvidia and Abu Dhabi’s TII Launch First AI-&-Robotics Lab in the Middle East
Vietnam Faces Up to $25 Billion Export Loss as U.S. Tariffs Bite
Europe Signals Stronger Support for Taiwan at Major Taipei Defence Show
Indonesia Court Upholds Military Law Amid Concerns Over Expanded Civilian Role
Larry Ellison, Michael Dell and Rupert Murdoch Join Trump-Backed Bid to Take Over TikTok
Trump and Musk Reunite Publicly for First Time Since Fallout at Kirk Memorial
Vietnam Closes 86 Million Untouched Bank Accounts Over Biometric ID Rules
×