Plastics are all around us. We need it in our daily lives for packaging, medical care, car parts, appliances, toys and more. But many plastics do not have a long lifespan, and a majority are considered single-use.

So what happens to them after they are no longer of use to us? On Sint Maarten, most end up on the landfill, but that is only when it is discarded properly, and even then they can end up back into our ecosystem and continue to cause a negative impact after weather related issues such as wind or torrential downpours. Because of this it is important to continue to adhere to the 4 R’s: Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle when we can.

However, some plastics are unavoidable, and will continue to be used on a regular and daily basis. To reduce the detrimental impact of these plastics, and reduce the exponential growth of the landfill, distorting the health of our beautiful island, we at EPIC believe this needs to change. And this can change!

With the Perpetual Plastics Project, we are creating a community-based solution for this big problem by offering another option for our plastic waste: on-island recycling via a social workspace. It all starts with getting the future generation hands on involved in a more sustainable way of living at the school level. Then, by collaberating with care institutions and persons with a distance to the standard labour market, plastics will be collected and turned in new reusable items that are fun and useful.

Recycling and Collecting
Starting a new recycling plastic program is more of a challenge than one might think. The technical part of it is quite extensive due to the fact St. Maarten does not have a formal recycling program on the island.

The process starts with identifying and sorting the types of plastics 1 through 7 from their recycling symbols. To start, we will be recycling plastics that are safe to use for the people in our workspace. Plastic type 2, a high-density polyethylene or HDPE, and 5, a polypropylene or PP. We follow the open-source recycling method from the Precious Plastic initiative. One machine shreds the plastics into small pieces. Two machines, an injector and an extruder, then melt those shredded plastics and create either smaller items through specific molds and the other into larger items. The initial collection of type 2 and 5 plastics takes place at schools that are part of the Green Dream initiative, a collaborative effort to get more schools recycling their waste, and specific businesses/institutions that have entered into collaboration for this purpose, as well as at our workspace.

Education
The plastic problem is so big that without reducing our plastic consumption, the amount of waste would still be overwhelming. Therefore, the project started with an education program. Children are taught the positive and negative effects of plastics and will be motivated to start reducing and recycling plastics themselves. Hopefully inspiring a new generation to do better than the generations before them. The education program launched in March 2024, starting at the primary schools that are also part of the Green Dream initiative (FB: Green Dream Projects: St. Maarten). With the ambition to eventually reach out and collaborate with all the schools on Sint Maarten, once the recycling workspace is of a sizeable enough scale.
Social workspace

Our plastic recycling social workspace can be found on the Union Road in Cole Bay, which is currently still under development. This will be a safe and inclusive workspace where plastics can be transformed into new reusable products, which will be functional and aesthetically pleasing. A space to visit, deposit plastics, inspire & learn, but also to get involved! The workspace is a social initiative that will create workspaces for persons within our community with a distance to the standard labour market, such as that within the hotel and restaurant industry. In collaboration with care organisations, the workspace will become a safe space to learn and develop new skills that can help our community move forward, and provide a space where they will be comfortable to execute various day activities throughout their week. It will also be a space for students that would like to gain skills/knowledge, but also for creatives and those with a social background to create and make a positive contribution to society.

Contact
Do you have any questions? Would you like to get involved as a school, care organisation, or a business? Do you have a full bin that needs to be emptied? Or are you interested in other potential collaboration/partnership/donation opportunities? Please contact us at perpetualplastics@epicislands.org or visit our Instagram page @perpetualplasticsxm.
For in person contact, you can visit us here: https://maps.app.goo.gl/ZQeTwpQsLzxro7rP8