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There have been some exciting new ‘green’ initiatives which have come online in the past year in Cayman: hybrid cars, which use a combination of gas and electric power, are now legal on Cayman roadways and there is the promise of 100% electric cars finally getting legal clearance to be driven on our public roads in early 2012. Cayman will also become the first island in the Caribbean to offer a network of solar powered charging stations to recharge the batteries of hybrid and electric cars. For more information on this development see later in this chapter.

Other progressive developments include CUC’s new policy that they will buy alternative energy from independent sources. For example, if you have solar panels generating electricity for your home or business and you produce more than you need, CUC will buy that power from you at a very fair rate. This is an amendment to the original CORE programme with much more favourable terms.

Another big and extremely welcome development is the imminent capping and closure of the Island’s existing landfill – commonly referred to as ‘Mount Trashmore’. The Dart Group has generously agreed to pay for and orchestrate the capping and closure of the existing landfill, and the construction of a new, modern and environmentally responsible waste management facility in Bodden Town. Island residents are literally breathing a sigh of relief!

While it is not easy to be very green on an island that does virtually no recycling, many residents and businesses are doing what they can to do their small bit for the environment. Examples of how you can do your part follow:

EATING & DRINKING
All the major supermarkets have eliminated non-biodegradable plastic bags, which were ending up in the dump by the thousands daily. Customers are now encouraged to purchase re-usable woven shopping bags, and if they forget to bring them they will be charged CI$0.05 per biodegradable plastic bag.

Unfortunately glass bottles and plastic are currently not being recycled, however aluminum cans are. All the major supermarkets have recycling bins for aluminum cans, and we encourage individuals and businesses to collect their cans and drop them off for recycling. Regarding glass bottles, the Cayman Islands Brewery (producers of Caybrew, Caylight, Ironshore Bock and White Tip Lager) do recycle their glass bottles and encourage individuals and bars to return empties for a CI$2 refund per case. Interestingly, they also reuse the water used in the brewing process – it is treated and then used for washing their vehicles and irrigating their property. Their spent grain is given to farmers for cattle feed. Their new White Tip Lager is a joint venture with the Cayman Islands Department of Environment, Marine International and Save Our Seas with a portion of the profits being donated to shark conservation work in Cayman’s waters.

There is very little agriculture on the Islands so the vast majority of our food is imported. This results in a large carbon footprint. Things that are grown locally (depending on the season) include magnificent mangoes, limes, breadfruit, cucumbers, lettuces, tomatoes, many root vegetables, plantains and callaloo to name just a few. These can be bought from the Market at the Grounds (Saturdays from 6.30am to noon) and from the market held at Camana Bay on Wednesdays from 12 noon (go early for the best produce). Alternatively, there is a guy called Tony who sells his local farm produce from a white van on Airport Road (just south of Fosters) every Saturday and a few random days during the week.

Fresh, locally caught fish can be bought from the fishermen on the waterfront next to Hammerheads. Few people realise that the choices we make when eating seafood has a direct impact on the vital health of the ocean habitat and the fate of biodiversity. By choosing sustainable seafood to eat, you are helping to preserve the diversity of fish that live and breed in our waters for future generations. The National Trust has established the Cayman Sea Sense programme to help consumers make responsible seafood choices to protect the world’s fragile ocean resources when eating out at restaurants. The project also helps chefs and restaurant owners reduce the number of non-sustainable seafood items on their menus. Look for the Cayman Sea Sense icon on menus for help in choosing sustainable seafood options as certified by the Cayman Sea Sense team. For a full list of participating restaurants where you can eat guilt free, visitwww.nationaltrust.org.ky/seasense.html. Good choices include locally farmed tilapia and mahi mahi caught in our waters. On the other end of the scale eating or buying local grouper is now seriously discouraged.

AT WORK
In addition to the standard measures of turning off all lights and computers when not in use, only printing when necessary, and printing on scrap paper, many businesses are also saving resources and money by recycling toner cartridges. Cartridge Smart will recycle all printer cartridges, from small personal printers, to large professional copiers, with a 100% warranty and major cost savings. Kirk Office Equipment (Tel: (345) 623 5475) will collect your used ink cartridges for recycling but they do not sell recycled cartridges. Alphasoft will also collect and recycle your printer cartridges. Recycling printer cartridges is a great way to save money and the environment since they otherwise contribute to landfill toxic waste.

A very welcome development on the recycling front now is that all rechargeable batteries (computer, camera and cell phone batteries in particular) can all be dropped off at either Funky Tangs, Brand Source or Stingray Construction and they will be flown to the US and delivered to a proper recycling centre (instead of turning up in our landfill). We believe that the Island has Michael Ryan from The Ritz- Carlton, Grand Cayman to thank for this. Increasingly, offices are also phasing out single function machines and replacing them with multipurpose systems that will print, copy, fax, etc. Whereas in other countries outdated machines can be disassembled and re-manufactured, that option does not exist here, so office equipment ends up in the dump. Multifunction systems also consume less energy. Cayman Business Machines (Tel: (345) 949 8642) has one such multi-purpose system manufactured by Xerox which instead of traditional toner cartridges (which are bulky and contain toxins harmful to the environment) runs on Solid Ink Technology, compact blocks of ink that produce a fraction of the waste and use less ink to produce the same print quality.

AT HOME
Whether you own a home, or you’re renting, you can still make responsible choices to help reduce the impact of living on a fragile island.

Reduce, Recycle, Reuse
Though Cayman has no ‘official’ recycling programme, you can conserve our natural resources by committing to reduce, reuse, and recycle at home, at the office and in the community. Small choices can make a difference. Here are some ways you can reduce your impact on the environment: