HISTORY OF WASTE MANAGEMENT ON THE ISLAND OF CURAÇAO

Several years ago the Caribbean island of Curaçao could not imagine that it would have the high level of waste management that it has today.

Through the years Selikor NV has grown from a government waste collection department to the largest and most experienced waste management company on the island of Curaçao, using the most modern equipment and facilities in the Caribbean.

The first major advancement the company Selikor made on Curaçao was in the collection and transportation of waste. For many years, waste collection on Curaçao took place by means of 55-gallon drums. On the collection day the drums were manually lifted by the garbage collector and emptied into a big truck for transportation.

Since 1996 waste collection takes places using wheeled plastic containers. These containers are mechanically emptied into a state-of-the-art garbage truck. With this method the collection efficiency increased substantially and collection is now much more hygienic. An added value of this method is that the garbage collectors were relieved of the strenuous task of lifting heavy drums.

The second major development was in waste disposal. In the past, ocean dumping was a normal procedure for disposal of solid waste. Sanitary landfills were not used. The current situation is one with a well-structured sanitary landfill at which advanced equipments are used to compact and cover the waste disposed on a daily basis.

Furthermore Curaçao has at its disposition a waste transfer station, which is used as an intermediary waste depot. The main purpose of this depot is to save time in transportation and to function more efficiently. At this transfer station 2 silos and 2 compactors are situated. When the silos and the compactors are full they are transported to and emptied at the landfill. read more