A permanent solution to band-aid approach

I would like to respond to a column that appeared in the newspaper over the weekend, written by Ruth Tighe, titled “On My Mind.”

I am sure, after following your columns over time, Ms. Tighe, that your intentions were well-intended regarding the island’s solid waste problems. However, you apparently did not do your homework on this one. The problem here on solid waste disposal is “broke” and does need “fixing.”

The one thing you did get right was that the previous administration did in fact open an agreement with the EPA, under the Brownfields Initiative, to opt to cover the Puerto Rico Dump and then monitor this project over the next 30 years. If you had bothered to investigate this band-aid approach you would realize that this idea is not only expensive but will not rid us of the small mountain that sits on that dump site. The blanket idea of disposing of the Puerto Rico dump is nothing more than putting a band-aid on a huge open bacteria-laden wound. With that system we will continue to have leaching of pollutants into our lagoon for the next 30-plus years, causing more devastation to our marine life and the continued red-flagging of our beaches.

Moving on to the Marpi Sanitary Landfill, the landfill is, according to experts we invited to Saipan and who visited the landfill a week ago, is an extremely well-run operation. But, again, this is only a band-aid approach to a major solid waste disposal solution. According to the manager of the landfill, the operation will shortly need to expand the site with more cells, with a very expensive price tag attached. Then after all the cells are filled to capacity, there will be the need to find more land to build more landfills.

There is a more permanent solution to both of these projects. The system you referred to in your column over the weekend is in fact a more surgical method of dealing with Puerto Rico dump. First of all, it is less expensive than the blanketing of the dump. Secondly, it can clean up that site approximately five times faster than the project you seem to favor. This would bring an end to the leaching of the pollutants into our lagoon much faster and permanently. This would also make the reclamation of that site a suitable revenue generating location much sooner than the blanket approach.

As far as the Marpi landfill is concerned, you are suggesting that the government continue to spend more money on a program that will eventually need to expand, using up more valuable land. The system that is being suggested to the administration is one that will extend the life of the present landfill for decades and decades to come, if not permanently.

Going by what you seem to think is the solution to solid waste here on Saipan still does not answer another question of what to do with the toxic and hazardous waste. Under the present system, we still have to hire private contractors to take these waste products and ship them off island. This is just another expense. Again, if you had taken the time to do your homework you would have found that the system that is being proposed would greatly reduce this expense because this method can dispose of most of these waste products such as waste oils and batteries and the like and neutralize the toxins into an inert non-toxic material. This inert material can indeed be used again, such as construction and agricultural materials. So, rather than costing the government more money, this suggested system offers a revenue generating method almost immediately after it is installed. This would also provide another industry that would offer more jobs for our island, which is a good economic move for the government.

Ruth, if you would like more information on this system, please feel free to contact me at bstard45@itecnmi.com. I would be more than happy to sit with you and show you exactly what this system is about and how it works and the benefits it proposes to the island.

Bob Emmett
Zero Waste Corp.
Susupe, Saipan