Differentiating the Methods of Waste Treatment in the Wider Caribbean Region : Introducing a Comprehensive Data-collecting Model to Promote Waste-to-Energy Practices

The Wider Caribbean Region does not have a regional waste management strategy. An integrated approach to waste management throughout the region would benefit many economic sectors, safeguard people’s health and improve environmental quality. Numerous studies, above all a project conducted in 1994 by the World Bank, pointed out that one of the main reasons why such strategy has not been developed yet lies in the scarce availability of data in the waste management sector. Through on field researches and the analysis of institutional reports, the objective of the present study is defining the reasons that led and still underpin such scarcity. Furthermore, the study proposes a new methodology of data collection and improvements to one of the mathematical model that is used to estimate waste quantities in ports. The purpose of the paper is to find an integrated solution to a double challenge: waste abundance and energy scarcity, with focus on ship generated waste management.