Belize Still Lacks Infrastructure for Large-Scale Recycling, Minister Says

While recycling and waste separation are common practices in many developed countries, Belize has not yet reached the stage where households would regularly separate their garbage for recycling. According to Minister of Sustainable Development, Orlando Habet, the country currently lacks the infrastructure and processing facilities necessary to support large-scale recycling operations.  Minister Habet explained that although environmental awareness has grown in Belize, the practical challenges of establishing recycling systems remain significant. One of the main issues, he noted, is that the volume of waste generated in Belize is relatively small compared to larger countries, making it difficult to justify the high investment required for specialized recycling machinery and facilities.  He said that for recycling to be economically viable, there must be sufficient quantities of sorted materials such as plastics, glass, and metals to support the cost of processing equipment and transportation.

Orlando Habet, Minister of Sustainable Development: “The most important thing here is to have the volume of material to be able to develop a recycling industry. So for Belize right now, it is really not feasible because we don’t have that volume. We might see a lot of garbage about the place but when you separate the garbage and to see what is actually recyclable, maybe we are at about 40 to 45 percent of that material that may be recyclable, but not all of it, for example some  plastics, or maybe cartons, paper, maybe even glass bottles that can be recycled. But we would have to have maybe larger volumes. So right now, for example, you see Bowen and Bowen collecting their bottles especially the soft drink bottles and they crush them, they recycle them, or other people would be buying them and compacting them, hopefully putting them into bails, and they sell them to Mexico or Guatemala until such a time that Belize can do it. And so that is part of the thing that is kind of prohibitive for us. But also, if we do recycling and we take out all that material then we also have to consider whether or not we want to do garbage or solid waste to energy, because that is where most of the energy comes from the rubber or from the plastics. So do we want to do solid waste to energy then that recycling component might be taken away. If you want to do the recycling, then we might not be able to do the solid waste to energy and vice versa.”

The minister indicated that while the country is not yet fully equipped for widespread garbage separation, the government continues to explore strategies aimed at improving waste management and environmental sustainability.  These efforts include promoting public awareness campaigns, reducing plastic pollution, and strengthening landfill management practices across municipalities. Habet added that as Belize continues to grow and generate larger volumes of waste, the possibility of introducing more structured recycling programs, including garbage separation, could become more feasible in the future.  For now, however, the focus remains on improving waste disposal systems and building the capacity needed before implementing nationwide recycling separation initiatives.