Born in July 2018 in the post-Irma context and funded by the Dutch Red Cross, Waste2Work is an innovative waste recovery and awareness project around the concept of '' upcycling '', the first of its kind on the island.
An initiative that stems from several observations. On the one hand, the mass of waste brought by the hurricane and generated by the reconstruction, added to that already enormous resulting from a very linear consumption model. On the other hand, the impact of Irma on the tourism economy and the difficult return to employment of a large part of the population, especially young people.
As its name suggests, Waste2Work uses waste to create jobs in an innovative way and last January set up the island's first upcycling training center, to give a second life to reusable materials such as wood and metal. A few carpenters and designers from the Netherlands came to Sint Maarten to create the first prototypes from which eight apprentices between the ages of 18 and 25 are trained. Now supervised by Nascha Kagie, the young Sint Maarteners learn to make tables, stools, shelves, gardening bins out of recycled wood debris, but also bean bags made from tires or even lamps from washing machine drums. All the creations are unique and made to measure. Several establishments and associations on the island such as Les Fruits de Mer, Roxxy Beach and the Lagoonies have already played the game by buying this furniture made from recycled materials. “The picnic table is in a way our flagship achievement presented at the Heineken Regatta” underlines Margot Mesnard in charge of partnerships during a visit to the Waste2Work premises. They are now located on the grounds of the Red Cross of Sint Maarten, along the road to Juliana airport, where all the works produced by the apprentices are exhibited and where a vertical garden is being created.
Waste2Work plans to run workshops on upcycling open to the public on the principle of Do It Yourself from July onwards and has already started going to schools in the Dutch part to educate children about sorting and teach them how to make things out of garbage. In the long term, Waste2Work's vision is to create an innovative space to develop entrepreneurship around waste recovery: the SXM Innovation Hub. Waste2Work will hold a stand on Saturday June 8 on the Marigot seafront during the environment festival organized by the COM and the prefecture '' A Bottle to the Sea ''.
(More details on www.soualigapost.com)
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