Undertaken over three rounds (April 2015, July 2015 and February 2015) the final report Waste Characterization Study for Barbados 2015 assesses the composition and quantity of the municipal solid waste (MSW) generated in Barbados and any changes which might have occurred in the respective periods. The selection of the aforementioned dates was in accordance with the dry season (April 2015), the crop-over-festival and the middle of the wet season (July 2015) and the tourist season (February 2016).
The government of Barbados has taken a number of initiatives to improve solid waste management which included the upgrading of the main physical facility, the Mangrove Pond Sanitary Landfill as well as the construction and establishment of the Solid Waste Management Center called Sustainable Barbados Recycling Center (SBRC). This study was carried out to provide a comprehensive waste characterization study (WCS) to support the Integrated Solid Waste Management Programme (ISWMP). It provides reliable data on the status of the dynamic solid waste stream that is constantly being influenced by prevailing economic, social and environmental factors. This report provides a consolidated analysis of all three rounds (April 2015, July 2015 and February 2015), observations and challenges associated with the exercises and recommendations to ISWMP that will be implemented under the guidance of the Project Management Coordinating Unit (PMCU).