ISABELA ISLAND, GALAPAGOS – A New Future in Solid-Waste Management

The largest island in all of the Galápagos Archipelago celebrates throughout this week, its 37^th anniversary as an island county within the Galápagos Province of Ecuador.  Amongst the official commemorating events, there is one related to the future management of solid waste on the island.  Following the successful story of the solid-waste management program in Santa Cruz Island, Fundación Galápagos-Ecuador signed in December 2009 an agreement of cooperation with the local Municipality of Isabela Island in order to develop a similar way of managing refuse.

Now, we are ready to provide the local effort with a compacting contraption that will start generating an efficient handling of solid waste.  Such machinery will assist the island’s goal of processing garbage in a modern way and making sure that such debris are not part of this unique island’s ecosystems.  Local events will also include sharing the news with local residents and motivating them to actively participate in garbage classification at home.

The official meeting includes signing the document that makes the machinery, part of the integral system for solid-waste management in the islands.  The Mayor of Isabela Island, Bolívar Tupiza, the Project Coordinator at Fundación Galápagos-Ecuador, and Carolina Martínez as a guest of honor from Fundación Coca Cola Ecuador, our key supporting partner, will be part of the official signing.  Additionally, special recognition certificates will be given to all members currently working at El Mango landfill on Isabela Island.  Their support has been crucial to the whole process, since they have manually handled the recollection and classification of recyclable materials on Isabela Island.

As part of our contribution to education of the local community, and following the principles of our environmental policy, Fundación Galápagos-Ecuador will donate to the Municipality of Isabela Island, six educational expeditions on board the M/V Santa Cruz for local students with the highest grades on the island.  This initiative complements our great commitment for the improvement of the local community residing on the islands.

Isabela Island starts the year 2010 with bright new hopes for a better way of managing solid waste on the island.