CHARLOTTE AMALIE — The Virgin Islands Waste Management Authority is turning away landscaping companies trying to dump plant debris from Tropical Storm Ernesto at designated bin sites on St. Thomas, and the Bovoni landfill has not accepted any green waste since a massive fire nearly a year ago.
The situation has left landscapers and commercial haulers in an impossible situation, and businesses say they have nowhere to legally dump the huge volume of cut tree trunks and limbs, palm fronds, and other plant waste piling up after the latest storm.
“Especially because of Ernesto, it’s a problem,” Sandra Garnett told The Daily News this week.
Garnett and her husband run their small business, Garnett’s Landscaping, with two employees, and she said they wasted hours on Thursday trying to figure out where to dump storm debris.
Fallen trees on Crown Mountain Road in St. Thomas. (Photos by SUZANNE CARLSON)
The Daily News published information from a Waste Management press release in Thursday’s newspaper, which stated that green waste from Tropical Storm Ernesto would be accepted from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday through Sunday at designated sites: Nazareth and Cancryn bin sites on St. Thomas; Anguilla Landfill on St. Croix; and Susannaberg Transfer Station on St. John.
The press release did not distinguish between residential or commercial green waste, and Garnett said she was under the impression that the temporary green waste bins were for all vegetative debris being collected from the storm.
But when her husband tried to take a load of plant waste to the Nazareth bin site, an employee told him he would have to go to the Bovoni landfill, which would start collecting green waste at noon.
Staff at the landfill told him green waste was only being accepted at Cancryn or Nazareth bin sites, and he said he spent the day feeling like “the yo-yo on a string.”
Garnett said the problem is affecting everyone, from business owners, to tourists, to elderly residents who are calling landscapers for help clearing fallen trees off their property.
“It’s been a long-term issue,” Garnett said. “I don’t think that they’re moving fast enough, and it’s not a problem until it becomes a problem.”
For weeks, landscapers have been contacting The Daily News with concerns about the lack of green waste management on St. Thomas and St. John.
A fire was first reported at Bovoni landfill on September 14, in a section where storm debris had been stored since the 2017 hurricanes. Firefighters battled the inferno for weeks, and heavy rainfall from Tropical Storm Philippe finally helped extinguish the fire on October 6.
Since that time, no green waste has been accepted at the landfill, leaving residents and commercial haulers with few options for disposal — other than leaving the debris piled up on their property, which attracts pests like termites and creates a potential fire hazard.
On July 26, Waste Management Authority spokeswoman Lorna Nichols-Minkoff responded to questions from The Daily News about the crisis.
Anguilla Landfill on St. Croix is accepting green waste, but there is no room for it at the Bovoni landfill on St. Thomas, Minkoff explained in a text message.
“Also we have to be careful,” because the landfill is already at capacity, and “the heat, gasses, fires, hurricane season. This is a good time for our community to really start thinking about composting,” Nichols-Minkoff wrote.
“Actually starting individual and community compost heaps would be great for the territory’s ecosystem and recycling efforts,” and Waste Management is working with Agriculture on “classes and more info/PSA’s for the public,” she added.
On August 5, The Daily News asked about the issue at a Government House press briefing.
“I would have to refer you to the Virgin Islands Waste Management Authority, not sure what their contingency is around not accepting green waste at the Bovoni Landfill, but I’m sure there is one. So, I would refer you to them to get the specifics on whatever contingency that they have in place to mitigate that,” Government House spokesman Richard Motta said.
When asked if the suggestion about composting was an adequate response, “in my opinion, I mean, I compost, so I wouldn’t disagree with that,” said Motta, who lives on St. Croix.
In regard to the fire hazard created by debris piles, “of course it’s a concern, we had a monthlong fire at the Bovoni Landfill as a result of green waste that had piled up over the years at the landfill, so of course it’s a concern of the administration,” Motta said.
He emphasized that residents and businesses should not dump green waste illegally on the roadside, and “as I mentioned, I would just recommend that you contact the Virgin Islands Waste Management Authority for whatever contingency they have in place,” Motta said.
“If you have green waste, and you’re not going to compost it, I would encourage you to reach out to the Waste Management Authority for some suggestions on how to properly and legally dispose of that,” he added.
The Daily News has reached out to Waste Management several times since then, and Nichols-Minkoff finally responded on Thursday: “We have spoken with several commercial haulers and informed them that we will provide an update on Monday regarding bringing green waste to the Bovoni Landfill. We do not want to have another fire in the green waste area (total cost $1M+).”
Both landfills are under decade-old federal consent decrees, and Waste Management was supposed to stop accepting waste at Anguilla by 2018, and Bovoni by 2019. But the local government obtained EPA approval to continue depositing waste in areas where the garbage had settled, creating more space, and “has been able to extend the life of each landfill,” according to the latest consent decree status report filed in May 2023.
By SUZANNE CARLSON/V.I. Daily News