Cayman to recycle plastic for first time

Bodden Beverages warehouse supervisor Steve Syms 
(left) accepts the donation of used plastic six-pack 
holders for reuse from John Gray Recyclers members 
including (l-r) vice president Cheyenne Rankine, 
Chantal Pearson, Melissa Smith, Cathrine Welds, 
president Jeremy Forbes and programme co-ordinator 
Christine Whitehead

Monday, February 9, 2004

When students from John Gray High School handed over thousands of six-pack holders to Bodden Beverages on North Church Street last week, it marked the beginning of plastic recycling in the Cayman Islands. 

The students, who form an organisation called John Gray Recyclers, collected the plastic, six-ring holders from 21 businesses and the general public for recycling in an attempt to prevent the plastic from polluting the environment and endangering marine life. 

Christine Whitehead, a teacher and the co-ordinator of the John Gray Recyclers, said: "We are reducing by reusing and then recycling, which is reducing garbage in the landfill and preventing marine life from being killed by this plastic. We are also promoting awareness in the community of the importance of recycling in order to stop our marine life from being harmed or killed by this marine debris."

Officials at Bodden Beverages say the 2,800 six-pack holders will be used to create 700 cases of 12-packs and transfer them into six-packs, using the holders that were collected. Bodden Beverages sponsored the school's recycling project and will forward any collected holders to Hi Cone in Fullerton, California for actual recycling.

"We started Hi Cone plastic recycling by e-mailing the Company in the States and requesting that we join their Ring Leader Programme," Ms Whitehead explained. "They then sent us a tree made out of recycled material for us to use to hang our six pack holders on. The idea was that when the tree was full we would return the six-pack holders to Hi Cone for Recycling. We then contacted the Department of Environmental Health and they gave us their full support for initiating Plastic Recycling in the Cayman Islands."

Anyone interested in joining the plastic six-pack holder recycling programme can contact johngrayrecyclers@hotmail.com or call John Gray High School at 949-9444.

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