Sabrina Gordon, Business Reporter

Business partners Harold Kristen and Dennis Soriano have set up a new company in Kingston which aims to profit off Jamaica's recyclable garbage.

International Recycling and Reclamation Limited, trading as Jamaica Recycles, can process up to 5,000 tonnes of waste per month.

"There is a tremendous opportunity here," said Soriano, president of Jamaica Recycles. "There is some recycling going on, but there is even a greater opportunity for recovery of recyclable material in Kingston and other parts of the island," he told Wednesday Business.

Jamaica Recycles' 20,000-square-foot plant at Spanish Town Road, Kingston, will operate as a collection and packaging centre for the material, which it will export for recycling.

Soriano said Jamaica Recycles has a relationship with an international trading company - which he declined to name - to which it sells the material collected. The Kingston plant will separate the collected material and condense them for shipment.

Modest start

Jamaica Recycles, which employs 10 staff members, will launch officially today but has been in operation for four months. Soriano declined to disclose the size of the investment in the start-up.

The company will focus initially on the collection of waste paper and plastic and later expand to other recyclable material such as electronic scrap, industrial plastic, glass and metals.

"We will collect all types of paper, from print shops, newspapers, cardboard — from both residential and commercial entities - as well as plastic bottles," Soriano said.

"And we will look into recycling other material as we get into full operation," he said.

Jamaica Recycles hopes to grow capacity by 50 per cent over the next two to three years, according to Soriano, which would push the capacity from the current 60,000 tonnes of recyclable material per annum to 90,000 tonnes. The company is also planning future expansion into Montego Bay and Negril.

"We are continually impressed by the overwhelming positive reception the concept of increased recycling efforts has received," said Soriano.

He estimates that Jamaica Recycles will assist in diverting 20,000 tonnes of garbage per year from the Riverton landfill.

The company said it will also pay for recyclable material delivered either to its Spanish Town Road facility or collected at customer site at rates going as high as US$100 per ton of material.

The price may go as high as US$100 per tonne (J$9,300) of material delivered.

sabrina.gordon@gleanerjm.com