Food Waste Composting on a Bahamas Resort: Barriers Encountered and Lessons Learned

The ability for small islands to meet sustainability goals is exacerbated by the costs of transporting goods on, and then, wastes off the islands. At small scales, recycling can be prohibitive and complicated by labor costs; the need to profitably recycle and manage solid waste output from tourism is complicated by scale and available technologies. An on-going, multi-year study documents the amount of solid waste generated on Great Exuma, The Commonwealth of The Bahamas, since 2010 with benchmarking, then limited recycling of food waste generation by an all-inclusive resort, Sandals Emerald Bay. For the island of Exuma, the rapid increase in the rate of accumulation of solid waste associated with a large destination resort has led to an increase in pests such as rats and flies, along with an increased occurrence of fires associated with unburied solid waste. Solid waste has accumulated faster than the island solid waste management can absorb. Food waste composting is an ideal solution once challenges can be addressed; issues encountered included the limitations of physical space for food waste separation, the increased human resources and training required, the long-term corporate commitment and the requisite government oversight.