SAYING they were unprepared, 15 of the 31 garment firms on Saipan yesterday asked the Solid Waste Management Task Force to extend today’s deadline banning the dumping of garment waste at Puerto Rico.
Lt. Gov. Diego T. Benavente, who chairs the task force, yesterday granted a 15-day extension after a meeting with representatives of garment factories.
“Some garment factories were not prepared and had not known about this, even though we have provided them the information a couple of months ago,” Benavente told Variety yesterday.
Benavente said the extension will enable these garment firms to look for sites where they could store their waste products.
On Feb. 28, Benavente announced that the government would ban the dumping of garment waste at Puerto Rico beginning today. This is expected to prevent a possible overflow of the dump which will reach its maximum capacity by September.
About 15 factories were able to immediately respond to the request of the government to temporarily “shelter” their waste at their existing spaces and warehouses, Benavente said.
The task force is considering shipping the waste to off-island destinations and the use of incinerators.
“I am very thankful that there are already garment factories that made the decision to store their garment waste,” Benavente said.
Benavente also clarified that Maeda Ericco has not been awarded a contract for the shipment of garment waste.
CIP Administrator Chuck Jordan was earlier quoted by this reporter as saying that Maeda Ericco was chosen for the project. Jordan yesterday denied saying this.
“The reason for this misunderstanding is that there is only one proposal that complied. But it did not necessarily mean that their proposal won the bidding,” Benavente said.
He said it may be “too costly” to ship the waste product, which could cost at least $400 per ton.
It is not “feasible and practical,” Benavente said.
“We are looking for other…alternatives…to deal with the garment waste,” he added.
