Island Green Living Project was Designed to Address Clean Air, Clean Water and Pollution by Mitigating Landfill Issues While Creating 30+ Jobs

St. John, USVI – May 2025 – A $20 million Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Grant, awarded to Island Green Living earlier in the year, has been terminated as of this month. Led by nonprofit Island Green Living Association, the U.S. Virgin Islands Partnerships for Community-Wide Sustainability (USVIPCS) project provided for transformative changes to mitigate urgent air, land and water pollution issues while creating 30+ jobs, supporting the local economy, and preserving public health. Plans incorporated expanded recycling and territory-wide composting in order to divert a substantial quantity of material from the landfill, including recovery of valuable material such as ferrous metals and other rare earth materials from e-waste, representing an unprecedented investment in infrastructure.

“We’ve had a decades-long issue in the territory concerning critically over-capacity landfills, including frequent landfill fires that pollute our air and cost millions to extinguish,” said Harith Wickrema, president of Island Green Living. “60% of our waste in the territory is recyclable and 19% is compostable. This project directly addresses concerns that the EPA, under the new administration, has communicated are their priorities: clean air, clean water, and pollution protections to support public health and the economy. This was confirmed in a meeting with Regional Administrator Mike Martucci in April.”

There is a lack of space in the USVI to expand or establish new sites to ease landfill issues. Given that tourism brings in an additional 2 million + visitors to the islands, the average per capita trash generation is 40% higher than the U.S. average. Tourism is key to the economy, making it vital to protect the natural beauty and attributes that draw visitors. Frequent landfill fires caused by brush-mixed debris further exacerbate air quality concerns and pose serious health risks. Leachate runoff is an additional environmental hazard. The bulk of the grant funding was designated to support expanded recycling and territory-wide composting in order to recapture a substantial quantity of “waste” material while extending its lifecycle and reducing pollution. For example, recycled glass would be repurposed in sandbags for use during storms, green and brown debris would be processed into rich compost to aid farmers, etc.

Additionally the grant funds would have supported recovery from major storms and hurricanes, a frequent challenge in the territory. In the past, removal of organic storm debris has required the federal government to mobilize forces with heavy tub grinders, chippers, etc. at substantial cost. The grant would have saved the federal government money since machinery from the composting operations would aid in managing debris.

Earlier this year, Governor Bryan expressed his commitment to work closely with Island Green Living, along with local nonprofit grant partners, to pool resources to maximize the grant’s success. Within days of Island Green’s request, a meeting was convened with five key members of his cabinet, including Agriculture, Education, DPNR, Property and Procurement, Energy and Waste Management, to discuss a collaborate approach to fulfilling grant objectives. Each cabinet member in turn committed to supporting and engaging in the project.

The grant would have extended and expanded Island Green’s highly successful recycling program established on St. John to St. Thomas with a new Resource Recovery Center while adding cardboard, glass, e-waste and other materials to aluminum and ocean-bound plastics collections. It also launched community composting on St. Croix and St. Thomas, which would have not only significantly reduced the organic material going into the landfills but also supported farmers and improved soil nutrition, addressing food security. Expanded greening education at schools and community engagement were included as well.

“Let’s look at possible alternative approaches to combat our longstanding landfill/waste diversion issues with the current EPA Region 2,” said Wickrema. “In view of our governor’s enthusiastic commitment to our endeavor, we are hopeful we can explore private-public partnerships to create new jobs and model waste management techniques incorporating AI tools along with ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’ initiatives.”

Established in 2004, Island Green Living Association is a registered 501 (c)(3) nonprofit organization on St. John dedicated to sustainability throughout the USVI and beyond. www.islandgreenliving.org.