Taiwan, South Korea and the Philippines are being considered as possible sites for the CNMI government’s plan to recycle Saipan’s garment waste product abroad.
“This can solve our problem in terms of handling the waste so it does not pile up at the Puerto Rico dumpsite. It is a very good (project),” Gov. Juan N. Babauta told Variety.
Pamela Brown, legal counsel of the governor and the Saipan Solid Waste Management Task Force, said the pilot project will run for one year.
Yesterday was the deadline for the submission of bids for shipping out garment waste, which will no longer be dumped at Puerto Rico starting April 30.
Brown said they want to see the garment waste shipped out by May 1.
Babauta said several local groups were interested in the recycling project.
“We did not expect that there was so much interest in the private sector,” Babauta said.
The task force decided last month to ban garment waste from the dump to prolong its “life span.” The dump is expected to reach maximum capacity by September. By-products from garment manufacturers account for 30 percent of the dump’s daily waste average.
According to Brown, they have been meeting with the Commonwealth Ports Authority and the Association of Seaport Tenants and Operators of Saipan to discuss shipping, handling and wharfage fees. The administration wants to keep the cost of various fees “as low as possible,” she added.
