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Introduction

Trinidad and Tobago Organic Waste
Municipal Curbside Recycling Programme (MCRP)
Design and Implementation Plan for
Organic Waste Curbside Collection and Valorization - Pilot Project

Building on SWMCOL’s success of its 2016 Municipal Curbside Recycling Programme (MCRP), which focused on the reduction, separation, and collection of post-consumer beverage containers, such as glass and plastic bottles, aluminium cans, and drink cartons, at the household level, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) approved Technical Cooperation TT-T1122-Trinidad and Tobago Organic Waste Municipal Curbside Recycling Programme (MCRP) on December 5th, 2022.  This approval included US$250,000 to expand pilot municipal curbside recycling in two (2) municipalities through the separate collection and composting of organic waste from households.

The project aimed to:

  • improve organics waste management;
  • assess the feasibility of the identified pilot methods (study the technical, financial, environmental, legal, and socio-economic feasibility of the proposed curbside collection and treatment methods); and
  • evaluate a potential scale-up of the activities (assess the economic, environmental and social impact of the pilots and provide recommendations encouraging replicability and sustainability in the wider community).

The project comprised two (2) components as follows:

  • Component 1: Pilot curbside collection of organic waste from two (2) targeted communities and a public education, awareness and outreach programme.
  • Component 2: Conduct of an institutional and financial sustainability study to analyze and propose innovative schemes to promote solid waste management sustainability in the targeted municipalities.

In this regard, the IDB engaged consulting firm, Unite Caribbean Development Advisors, to support the Government of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago (GoRTT) to undertake the activities of Component 1 and 2. 

Based on the selection criteria developed by Unite Caribbean for this project, the San Fernando City Corporation (SFCC) and the Tunapuna/Piarco Regional Corporation (TPRC) were selected as the implementing municipalities. Further, based on discussions with the respective corporations, the communities of Old Pleasantville, Les Efforts East and West, and Olera Heights within the SFCC and Greenvale and Trestrail within the TPRC, were selected for the pilot.

During the periods December 17th, 2024 to April 29th, 2025, and November 19th, 2024, to April 29th, 2025, collection was undertaken in the areas of SFCC and TPRC, respectively.

Collection activities focused on green and brown organic materials as follows:

 

 

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