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Recycling Center of Bwa Nef
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Manithe Laguerre is running a recycling center in Cite Soleil that has created a market for plastic bottles that previously were clogging the canals of the Cite, using a market approach to make Cite Soleil's streets cleaner
Cite Soleil has little social services available, including a consistent trash pick-up system. Cite
Soleil also has a network of open canals, which are often used to dump trash into, and which can sometimes become so clogged with trash they overflow; many other neighborhoods throw their trash directly into the ocean, which is bad for the environment and local fishermen. One of the main culprits of this clogging is from plastic bottles and styrofoam. This has created a fragile health and sanitation situation for Cite Soleil’s residents.
An international NGO operating in Haiti called Samaritan’s Purse launched
an initiative called “Ramase Lajan” (“collect money”). They selected 30 candidates and put them through a training on recycling and business management, and out of those 30, the 6 most promising were given small recycling centers to manage as a small business: there was one in Bwa Nef,
an initiative called “Ramase Lajan” (“collect money”). They selected 30 candidates and put them through a training on recycling and business management, and out of those 30, the 6 most promising were given small recycling centers to manage as a small business: there was one in Bwa Nef,
one on Waf Soley, one in Waf Jeremi, one in Belekou, one on the national highway, and one on route 9. They are all running now as small businesses, with no more external support. Manithe Laguerre, the operator of the recycling center in Bwa Nef, is considered to be the most successful out of all of them.
The recycling centers are openfrom 6m-7pm from Monday-Saturday. They have a scale and
equipment to compress plastic bottles. When plastic bottles are collected, they are washed and pressed until flat and then weighed – and every pound is worth 4 gourdes (about 20 bottles). The recycling center resells them for 6 gourdes a pound, and they can purchase more than 1000 pounds a day. When the rain falls, they can buy up to 1500 pounds a day, because trash from other neighborhoods in Port au Prince comes flowing down the canals into Cite Soleil. They recently began collecting Jumex bottles (which are melted down to make stoves and spoons), and the jumex bottles are bought for 12 gourdes and then resold for 15 or 20.
This has created a market for recycling goods, and a true incentive for making Cite Soleil cleaner. In addition to the 5 people employed by Mr. Laguerre’s center, there are countless people who have increased their income while at the same time ridding Cite Soleil’s streets of the plastic bottles that would otherwise be clogging up Cite Soleil’s streets and canals.
Download full report (in english):
GPS coordinates:
Primary contact:
Manithe Laguerre, 37146598
English
Success gradient:
Commune:
Cite Soleil
Partners:
Samaritan's Purse
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