Organised on 25th April 2023

According to the United Nations Environment Programme’s 2019 article titled ‘The Caribbean addresses the scourge of plastic pollution’, it states that seventy to eighty-five per cent of marine litter in the Caribbean Sea comes from land, and most of it consists of plastics. The environmental, social, and economic impacts of plastics on the environment are well known: waterways get choked and flood more often, and sewage systems become clogged, providing breeding grounds for mosquitoes and raising the risk of transmission of waterborne diseases like dengue; plastics enter the food chain through contaminated soil and water; and visual pollution impacts tourism and recreational activities.

Our webinar discusses the work of 3 organizations representing Trinidad And Tobago, the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), and Jamaica, as they discuss their roles in plastics recycling in the Caribbean as island states.

SPEAKERS

Ronald Roach, Director of Water and Waste Services @Unite Caribbean

With a career spanning 30 years in the fields of operations management, project management, and waste management, Ronald Roach is an advocate for improved waste management not just in his home country of Trinidad and Tobago but across the Caribbean. He is the current Director of Water and Waste Services at Unite Caribbean, a Caribbean Development Consultancy Firm specializing in governance, economic development, environmental management, and climate change. As a Consultant, Ronald has been involved in waste management and recycling projects in a number of Caribbean countries, including the OECS Countries, Belize, Guyana, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago. He is the former Chief Executive Officer of the Trinidad and Tobago Solid Waste Management Company Limited and was charged with the responsibility of providing strategic vision, planning, and operational leadership to the company and, inter alia, driving the overall growth and expansion of the company.

Majeed Mohammed, COO @SMCL Investments Trinidad Ltd

Majeed Mohammed has an MBA in Sustainable Energy Management from Arthur Lok Jack Global School of Business. He is currently a Certified Energy Manager (CEM) gaining the qualification from the Association of Energy Engineers (AEE) in 2015. He is a Seasoned Plant Operator offering excellent technical acumen, planning abilities, and complex problem-solving expertise gained over a 20+ year of career in power generation. Also skilled in conducting energy audits aimed at reducing energy consumption and eliminating maintenance costs by introducing sustainable and cost-effective strategies. He is the COO of SMCL Investments Trinidad Ltd, a start-up that is proposing to construct a post-consumer PET plastic recycling facility in Trinidad and Tobago aimed at producing FDA approved Food Grade rPET resins.

Nalini Sooklal, Co-founder @Recycling Partners of Jamaica

Having held various positions within the Environmental sector regionally, Ms Sooklal is easily identified as an industry leader with a reputation for tenaciously protecting the environment’s interests and involvement in cutting-edge projects in sustainable development. She is also versed in the negotiation and drafting of Multilateral Environmental Agreements, having served as a National Representative at International and Regional Meetings. She has chaired and facilitated numerous Cabinet-appointed committees focused on environmental policy development and the Strategic Plan for Solid Waste Management for Trinidad and Tobago. Whilst at SWMCOL she most notably accomplished the Establishment of a Recycling Depot in Sea Lots, Port of Spain and the establishment of the first-ever Beverage Container Recycling Facility in the English-Speaking Caribbean.

MODERATOR

Sian Cuffy-Young, Co-founder, Siel Environmental Solutions

Sian Cuffy-Young has been involved in the environmental field for over fourteen years. She is no stranger to challenges as her experience stems from the waste and mining sectors – two fields many shy away from. She also has a wealth of experience in environmental management systems and education. She has received training in behaviour change through community-based social marketing with the University of Tennessee. She is a Colorado-certified environmental educator, speaker and principal consultant of Siel Environmental Services Limited. Her work involves working with schools through her waste education programme, with SMEs to the large corporate company to help them become more waste efficient, to communicate their environmental strategies and staff training and consulting and also has created an online learning platform for waste-related issues, for example composting and a short course in Waste management with UWI.

Her academic qualifications include a B Sc (Hons) degree with a double major in Physics and a Masters in Environmental Engineering from the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, Campus and a Diploma in Environmental Management from Galilee College, Israel. She is also a Fulbright Hubert Humphrey Fellow from Cornell University. She specialized in quarry rehabilitation and is a graduate of the prestigious Shell LiveWire programme for young and upcoming entrepreneurs. She was recently awarded the Kenneth Valley Foundation Progress award for her work in environmentalism and advocacy, and her company receiving the award for being the Best Waste Education Company in the Caribbean by BUILD Magazine.