Basseterre, St. Kitts — Government ministries, sector agencies, private-sector stakeholders, and technical partners met on Wednesday, January 21, at the St. Kitts Marriott Resort (Saba Room) for a one-day workshop aimed at strengthening the Federation’s Waste Management Strategy and developing a practical, prioritised **Waste Management Action Plan.
Held from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., the workshop reviewed an initial draft strategy and produced an implementable action plan focused on increasing resilience and sustainability within the waste sector. The outcomes will support updates to the Tourism Sector Strategy and the integration of waste management measures across climate-sensitive economic sectors, including tourism and agriculture.
Participants included representatives from the Department of Environment, the Solid Waste Management Corporation, tourism and agricultural stakeholders, other public and private partners, and technical facilitators from the Unite Caribbean and Leve Global Consortium. Discussions addressed the specific challenges climate change poses to small island developing states that rely heavily on tourism and agriculture, while exploring both adaptation and mitigation approaches to strengthen sectoral resilience.
Workshop participants validated eight foundational principles of the strategy, including the waste hierarchy, circular economy, polluter-pays principle, integrated waste management, and climate protection. Core priorities identified were waste reduction, recycling, and organic waste diversion; resilient waste infrastructure, including landfill leachate and gas management; public awareness and education; policy reform—such as Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) and controls on single-use plastics; and sustainable financing mechanisms.
Immediate, practical follow-up actions were agreed upon, including pilot programmes for organic waste separation in hotels and tourism facilities; reuse and deposit schemes; improved landfill leachate and gas management; strengthened enforcement; a unified public communication campaign; and mixed financing options incorporating user fees, environmental levies, and EPR schemes.
All proposed actions were aligned with climate adaptation and mitigation objectives to protect coastal and marine environments, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and improve the resilience of waste services during extreme weather events. Consultants and government leads will consolidate the workshop’s inputs into a draft Waste Management Action Plan for stakeholder review and validation. Finalisation of the strategy will be supported through targeted capacity building and the development of bankable project concepts to mobilise financing for implementation.
This engagement represents a pivotal step toward a coordinated, climate-smart waste management approach that protects public health, safeguards the environment, and supports sustainable economic development across the Federation.