Eco$ense

According to an article on plastic waste in Trinidad and Tobago by Professors Hull and Williams (June, 2020), "People in Trinidad and Tobago throw away 26,000 tons of PET plastic bottles every year – enough to make building a domestic recycling facility economically efficient".

Eco$ense will address the issue of plastic pollution and deforestation in Trinidad and Tobago, the Caribbean and Latin America. The proposed solution is to build and operate a plastic lumber facility to assist with the removal and eventual upcycling of recyclables. The facility will sort and convert the plastic to produce plastic lumber as an end product.  

Plastic pollution inevitably results in global threat to ecosystems, overcrowded landfills ad contaminated food systems.

If scaled appropriately, Eco$ense can create a cleaner earth and food source which positively affects human and marine well being in the Caribbean, decrease deforestation and creates sustainable employment for community youth and women.

Eco$ense seeks to address the lack of awareness and understanding of the best practices of effective waste management and ecosystem rehabilitation and to implement a sustainable solution to plastic pollution and deforestation. In 2016, global plastic waste amounted to 242 million metric tons. The Island of Trinidad and Tobago (TT) is classified as a small-island developing state (SIDS) with a population of 1.395 million. However, the average waste generated by SIDS inhabitants on a daily basis is 2.30 kg per person compared to the global average of 1.55 kg.

The high consumerism rates, combined with an inadequate waste management systems, results in staggering quantities of plastics, particularly single use plastics, littering the urban and natural environment, including our rivers and seas.  Over 8,000 tons of plastics are being disposed to the nation’s landfill annually, which is now filled to capacity. According to Trinidad and Tobago’s Solid Waste Management Authority (SWMCOL), "A significant amount of the 1,500 tones of waste entering the country’s three landfills daily is recyclable".

Eco$ense hopes to change the current approach to waste management, which  is a “top-down” or state-centric model that makes use of traditional land-filling towards a “bottom-up”, community-based approach to plastics recovery and recycling.

Eco$ense will construct a plastic recycling facility that will specialize in removing plastic waste from the environment in order to  create an upcycled product that can be resold on the open market.  The main item will be plastic lumber which will be made from recyclable plastic material and used as fencing post. This will deter farmers from removing forest trees to enclose their vast land spaces and ultimately reduces deforestation, illegal logging and plastic waste pollution.  Our approach to the problem will help us to restore a resilient ecosystems.  

This strategic community approach to waste management and ecosystem rehabilitation, when implemented, will assist in monitoring and management of recycling, plastics, glass and cans into new upcycled product.  It features components such as nursery seeding, reforestation, upcycling, training, education, geographic information mapping and utilization of a mass media sales and marketing campaign.

The facility entails collection depots where plastic containers can be collected and sorted, fed into an extruder machine to produce a plastic lumber as an end product.  This solution will address several issues, plastic pollution, deforestation, unemployment and health.

By minimizing plastic waste, the Eco$ense recycling facility will benefit the entire country of Trinidad and Tobago, Latin America and the Caribbean.  It will however be managed by the Cashew Gardens Community Council, which is a local NGO.   

The concept of building a plastic recycling facility will provide immediate benefits to the host community which is an underserved rural community located in central Trinidad, with basic infrastructure.  The residents of this community are mainly single parents, who are also minimum wage workers with basic education, most of these persons are struggling to keep their children in school and some of already became drop-outs, therefore members of this community will benefit directly through the employment opportunities that this initiative will create. 

Currently, in our recycling program, there is an 80% voluntary involvement of youth and women. The increased opportunities provided by the recycling facility will enable further development of skills to contribute to this local community. Additionally, the facility can assist with developing other programmes that is managed by the Cashew Gardens Community Council such as: the Home Work and Activity Centre, a Climate Smart Garden, and the Cashew Gardens Youth Club.

Our watchwords are Education, Enterprise, Empowerment and Environment, which are in alignment with the target population and our purpose for building Resilient Ecosystems. Currently, the youth and women are the main participants in our fight for recycling and against deforestation. Trinidad and Tobago has approximately 48% forest cover with replanting of 100 hectares per year to regain all of it.  There exists 678 known species of amphibians, birds, mammals and reptiles. Of these 2.2 percent being endemic and 2.5 percent are threatened and its only through education, recycling and reforestation can we protect and conserve our ecosystems.

Growth: The Cashew Gardens Community Council launched a community  recycling program in 2016 and has since started the expansion of the Cashew Gardens Community Recycling Programme into 8 other surrounding communities in 2020. The amount of plastics collected increased by 60% with an involvement of over 1500 households. The identification of plastics as an asset that can be utilized locally instead of being shipped internationally, was explored, hence the reason for our proposed recycling facility. Presently the Council has partnered with another local organization called The Flying Tree Environmental Management to explore upcycling plastics into new products such as lawn decoration, plant pots, benches and other long term products.  This partnership has yielded some very promising results and therefore we will like the opportunity to upscale our efforts to a plastics recycling facility in order to remove much more plastics from the environment and protect our forested areas from deforestation.

The Eco$ense solution is innovative because nothing like this currently exists in the Caribbean. In addition to finding a viable solution to the problem of plastic pollution on the island, our solution will also protect trees from being indiscriminately felled for lumber for agriculture and other purposes. The flexibility to work with other organizations who share similar focus is readily available. 

Using a “bottom-up”, community-based approach to plastics recovery and recycling will empower others to participate and make habitual changes. This will be complimented by the other environmentally conscious groups in the country who make a concerted effort to address the situation in the best way that they can with the limited resources they have.  Some of the areas which are addressed include education campaigns in schools and coastal cleanup activities which can now include the recycling facility as a solution to plastic pollution.

It is expected that the recycling facility will encourage a change in habits regarding waste management, increase private-public sector engagement and  incentivize the finished product, thereby motivating the community to continue producing.

At present, 2% of our plastic waste is being bailed and shipped to other countries for recycling at no real benefit to the community that is engaged in the collection and education. This is now seen as a valuable resource that can be managed by the community and allow the revenue of the other 98% to remain in the country for its benefit instead of ending up in the landfill, rivers and seas.

At the moment the Cashew Gardens Community Recycling Programme currently serves eight communities with participation from approximately fifteen (1,500) hundred households. 

In one year's time and with the implementation of the Eco$ense recycling facility, we can successfully market our program to all of the communities in the Central part of the island where we are based, that will be approximately fifty thousand (50,000) plus households.

In a period of five (5) years, we can serve a significant part of the island, approximately one-hundred thousand (100,000) households and remove a significant amount of the plastic from the environment.

Eco$ense's progress will be measured by how successful we are at accomplishing the following :-

• the amount of plastic in weight we are able to prevent from entering the landfill, rivers and seas;

• our ability to change mindsets as it relates to waste management, plastic pollution, deforestation and ecosystem restoration;

• How successful we are at keeping our waterways clean;

• The amount of acreage of forest we are able to rehabilitate;

• our ability to discourage further deforestation by providing our new product as an alternative to wood fencing and logs;

• The visible changes in the standard of living of the women and girls that are employed in the program;

• our ability to promote the new product and offer it for sale on the open market.

Our solutions team comprises of :-

• 6 Full time staff

• 4 Part time staff

• 1 Consultant (contract)

• 25 volunteers

The Cashew Gardens Community Council is a Non Governmental Organization that is located in Central, Trinidad and Tobago.   The Council has been in existence for the last eighteen years and has been involved in waste management and education campaigns for the last six years.  We have spearheaded and managed several projects in the community which have been very successful and are still ongoing:The Community Climate Smart Greenhouse and Composting project;  The Homework and Activity Centre; and The Cashew Gardens Community Recycling Program; the very first community recycling program in Trinidad and Tobago.  As a result of our dedication to waste management and our voluntary work in the environment, we were able to qualify for funding from the Government's Green Fund to continue our work for two years and received a 2020 Green Leaf Merit Award  from the Environmental Management Authority for our work in the environment.  

 Our Management team comprises of the following:-

• A Project Manager (Director)

• An Accountant (Director)

• A Marketing specialist (Director)

• A Language Expert (Director)

• An Administration Assistant  (Secretary)

• A Driver

• A Loader

• 4 Field Assistants (Temporary)

• A Waste Management Expert (Consultant)

Our team has acquired a wealth of knowledge and experience over the years and has had the opportunity to present our model at the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women in New York in 2018 and 2019.  We are passionate about doing our part to restore the ecosystem and we see plastic recycling and reforestation as ways in which this can be done.

The Cashew Gardens Community Council believes that a great leadership team is inclusive of  members who are diverse in terms of ethnicity, religion, age, sex and skill set and our very composition reflects this. The method to create a diverse and inclusive team is to look at each team member's strengths, weaknesses and ability. By educating and working closely with the youths in the community, we have found that they are very keen on making the necessary changes as it relates to the environment, therefore the youths are very much involved in all of our activities.  

Our Council has been working with the community for the last eighteen (18) years and our main focus is community development and providing opportunities for our residents through education, entrepreneurial activities and environmental projects.  Our present management team is qualified in the areas of Project Management, Marketing, Finance and Administrative duties and has been working together on our current recycling programme for the last five (5) years.

Based on observation and collection, it was discovered that residents want to recycle, however, some will not go out of their way to do so. With a good understanding of the culture of our residents, we explored making it more convenient for residents to recycle, by strategically placing more recycle bins closer to their residence. This strategic plan has proven time and time again that convenience is a major plus to proper waste disposal management.  

Solve will assist us to gain the necessary exposure that we would not have been able to obtain otherwise on our own, as a small NGO in a small island developing state.  If our solution is selected, we hope that we can partner with the right team to assist us to take our products and solutions further in order to solve our problem of plastic pollution and deforestation.  We hope to be able to benefit from existing technology and to bring about a level of training and expertise to our project.  

If we are recognized and receive support by an international company such as MIT Solve it will put us in a better position to garner support from other partners.

The idea of setting up a plastic recycling facility in Trinidad and Tobago is relatively new to us as no such facility currently exist on the island and therefore we would need some form of mentoring and training.  The technology that exist in first world countries to manage plastic pollution does not currently exist in our developing island however the effects of the problem will inevitably felt worldwide.  This is why we think that it is important for us to network with persons who are already using the technology to solve a common problem.   

We will like to be considered for Potential Partnership.  We don't have any specific name of a company in mind but we hope that MIT can assist us with finding the right match for our proposed solution.

The Cashew Gardens Community Council has a Home Work and Activity Centre that was built by the people, for the people. This centre is host to many activities like home work assistance, community meetings, training and education, office space, computer and printing services. In 2020, the Council gave out over 15 refurbished computers to residents who did not have so that the children could conduct schooling from home. Additionally, free WIFI was made available at the centre for those who did not have internet access. The aim is to introduce STEM activities within the coming years to over 50 youths in the community, as well as, our Venezuelan neighbours.

Trinidad and Tobago is one of the closest Islands to Venezuela. Since the advent of the political crisis in Venezuela, their nationals have be migrating to Trinidad and Tobago by boats on a daily basis seeking refuge.  They have settled all over the island and can be seen pounding the pavement daily seeking income earning opportunities with some  even exploited.  The  construction of a recycling facility, therefore, will assist us in creating employment opportunities for some of these Venezuelan nationals.   It will give them the opportunity to learn a skill, as well as, to earn a fair wage to be able to assist their families.   

The majority of the volunteers and employed workers involved in our programme are women and girls. The prize can allow us to invest in capacity building, training and development and creating social entrepreneurs in our many programmes such as the community recycling programme (and hopefully recycling facility), climate smart garden, and community composting.  

Our board of directors comprises of five women and our organization is female driven, and has been for the last fourteen years.  Through this leadership, we have started five successful projects which are still ongoing. Our initiatives have lead us to winning a national environmental award in our country from the Environmental Management Authority.

We feel proud to say that we have been able to stand out in a male dominated industry and will like the opportunity to take our initiative one step closer to solving our plastic pollution and reforestation problem in the country.

The replanting of trees and rehabilitation of our depleted forests and mangrove will enable us to capture carbon dioxide. Additionally, our current composting programme converts organic waste from households to compost that is currently being used in farming and for other agricultural projects. The use of technology to spearhead our efforts can greater increase our chances of success in building resilient ecosystems.

The ServiceNow prize will assist us in starting our seedling nursery which will specialize in trees that is synonymous to our local ecosystem and the natural habitat of our wildlife.  The trees will be replanted in areas that was depleted by deforestation.  These are critical areas, as Trinidad and Tobago is a developing state with the increased construction of industries on the rise with more and more vehicles being purchased daily.  At present, our forest cover is depleting and therefore, we need to muster up the community to participate in urgent reforestation work in order to absorb the carbon that is being emitted into the atmosphere before the situation gets further out of hand. 

The Cashew Gardens Team intend to use drones to assist us with identifying areas that need reforestation, as well as, to possibly scatter seedlings in areas that are inaccessible.  The use of AI can assist in data collection, as well as, assess the impact our efforts are having on the environment.  Our EcoSense recycling facility will be state of the art and new to this region, thereby, creating opportunities for learning and implementing new technology in this rural community. 

The community consists of over 150 households and growing, with most from a low socio-economic bracket. This means that most do not have a bank account or access to loans. The advent of cryptocurrency and block chain allows for equitable access to funds for improvement of these residents for instance the possibility of a Community Cooperation. This Cooperation will provide trading opportunities, digital and financial literacy and a step into the right direction in this information era.