Eco friendly solutions in St Maarten / Sint Martin
Have you ever thought about what you throw out every day? What makes up the bulk (by weight) of our trash? Food waste? Plastic? Glass? Perhaps by paying careful attention to a week’s worth of trash, we can better understand where we can make improvements in our lives. Continue reading “A Week’s Worth of Trash”
There are not many Sint Maarten Recycling locations, but we will let you know about them as they become available!
Art Craft Cafe and Wastefactory are located between Coffee Lounge and Diamond Casino on Frontstreet. They collect clean & dry #2 HDPE bottles and all bottle caps, with more recycling options coming soon. Continue reading “Saint Martin & Sint Maarten Recycling Locations”
Single use plastic is polluting our landfill, lungs, and ocean. Ideally, we will move away from plastics as reusable and compostable alternatives become more widely available. However, we must recycle the plastic that we already use. Plastic recycling is becoming more widely available, but one of the greatest challenges is the lack of information about what is actually recyclable at local facilities. Less than 10% of plastic is recycled in the USA. If St Maarten wants to do better, we are all going to have to learn a bit about plastic and what can be recycled locally.
Plastic is divided into 7 categories: PET, HDPE, PVC, LDPE, PP, PS, and ‘Other’.
Continue reading “Plastic Recycling”
Plastic has changed the world. Read our Tips for Choosing and Using Less Single Use Plastic to see how you can reduce your environmental impact today!
Continue reading “Tips For Choosing and Using Less Single Use Plastic”
After a quiet July, August was a busy month for the Green SXM Pilot Compost Project. The first batch of compost has been almost entirely used up, and chamber 1 of the composter is now full with batch 2. Once again, the compost is hot (above 140 degrees Fahrenheit) , and aerated using forced air from a blower, reducing the frequency of turning the pile.
Continue reading “Batch 2 is Cooking – Green SXM Pilot Compost Project: Month 3”
The dump is on fire and there is a haze in the air. What can you do about it? Air Purifiers, Plants, and Masks – Do They Help? Continue reading “Air Purifiers, Plants, and Masks – Do They Help?”
When starting out with small compost piles, you can follow ‘rule of thumb’ measurements rather than calculating the carbon to nitrogen ratio. Simply add one part green to two parts brown, and your compost should be roughly balanced.
Continue reading “Calculating Carbon to Nitrogen Ratios”
Meet Wynd – a small consumer air purifier and PM2.5 sensor.
We’ve been testing it out with the Sahara dust over the last few months and it has been reasonably accurate – following the trends in the particulate count predicted on the Windy app and those reported by the Met offices in Martinique, Guadeloup, and Puerto Rico.
For most of the past few months, we have had many days where Wynd has measured moderate to unhealthy levels of PM2.5 due to the increased dust. Â Sahara dust can be an irritant to sensitive individuals or those with Asthma and other lung issues.
St maarten has a poorly managed garbage dump in the great salt pond, bordering it’s capital, Philipsburg. On the 7th of August 2018 the St Maarten garbage dump erupted into flames once again.  What made this fire unique was low winds, low levels of Sahara dust, and dry clear weather – all good circumstances for comparing the PM2.5 levels in various areas.
Screenshots from the Wynd app:
Continue reading “Wynd Air Purifier”
St Maarten, like many other small islands, relies on desalinated water. This is not only expensive, but requires extensive use of energy (and fossil fuels) to produce. We should reuse as much water as possible, and DIY gray water irrigation is a fantastic and easy way to establish new fruit trees. Continue reading “Easy DIY Gray Water Irrigation”
As part of #plasticfreeJuly we’ve been looking in detail at the environmental impact of the food we buy. Reducing meat, dairy, and processed foods is a great way to reduce plastic consumption (and your carbon footprint) but not all fruit and veggies are available everywhere without excess single use plastic packaging. Berries are renowned for their antioxidants but their fragile nature makes them an expensive treat financially and environmentally. Fresh vs frozen berries and the environment: Could frozen produce be a better choice? Continue reading “Fresh vs Frozen Berries: Which are Better for the Environment?”
