By
Sarah Bridge
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The public is being encouraged to bring their used glass bottles and jars to recycling depots as glass recycling returns to Grand Cayman after a more than two-year break.
A partnership between the Department of Environmental Health and the Flowers Group means that from this week, used glass can be dropped off at any of the nine recycling points across the island to be taken to the Flowers headquarters in George Town.
There, the glass will be crushed into tiny pieces, which will be used in the manufacture of blocks that can be used for construction, paving and tiling.
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The recycled glass will primarily be used in paving slabs to start with, but as more glass becomes available it will be used in other products such as ornamental blocks, sea walls and regular concrete building blocks.
For the moment, only glass collected from the public recycling depots will be recycled, but there are hopes that glass from businesses including pubs, restaurants and hotels will be recycled in future.
Flowers pledge to next generation
Flowers Group managing director Frank Flowers told the Cayman Compass that he wanted to be involved with glass recycling in Cayman as “we want to leave the world in a better place for the next generation”.
It is thought that around 1-2 tonnes of glass will be recycled every day, which means less glass going into general rubbish and ending up as landfill. At full capacity, the current machine will be able to crush six tonnes a day, and, as glass recycling expands across island, Flowers is hoping to bring a larger, fully automated machine, which will be able to deal with greater quantities of glass, over from China.
“We want the entire community to be involved,” said Flowers Group director Dara Flowers Burke.
“A big reason why we’re doing this is because it’s better for Cayman. It’s glass which won’t be sent off island or end up in landfill, and it’s true recycling, as you’re repurposing it into something which will last for generations.”
She added, “Using glass in the blocks makes it a stronger product as well as increasing its sustainability rating, and it looks beautiful as well.”
Any colour of glass can be recycled and labels and lids can be left on as they are automatically removed by the machine. The public, however, is asked to wash the glass before recycling, and to place nothing but glass products into the glass recycling bins, as extra rubbish only makes it harder for staff to sort.
At the official launch, sustainability minister Dwayne Seymour thanked Flowers and the DEH for “taking on the challenge”, adding, “This project is something for people to admire and something we should have been doing a long time ago. We need to find ways to reuse a lot of the stuff we import and this is a great way to do that.”
Public-private partnership
Both Seymour and DEH director Richard Simms said they hoped businesses would get involved.
Simms said, “As you know, glass recycling was suspended back in 2022 and we have been working with Flowers for the last year on this project, so we’re very excited to be here. It will absolutely reduce landfill and we look forward to a longstanding relationship with the Flowers Group.”
This public-private partnership is expected to expand in future with Flowers taking on plastic recycling on island as well.
Clean glass, plastic, cardboard, and metal cans, tins and trays can be recycled across Grand Cayman at the following places:
- Foster’s at Republix Plaza, West Bay
- Camana Bay Recycling Centre, West Bay
- Kirk Market, George Town
- Foster’s at the Airport Centre, George Town
- BarCam Service Station, Red Bay
- Foster’s at Countryside Shopping Village, Bodden Town
- Haig Bodden Stadium, Bodden Town
- Craddock Ebanks Civic Centre, North Side
- Captain George Dixon Park, East End
