FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Who is Green VI?
Answer:
Established in 2009, Green VI is a not-for-profit organisation based in the British Virgin Islands. Our Vision is a green, clean, healthy, and prosperous BVI, where the well-being of the people is of primary importance and a balance is maintained between conservation of the natural environment and development.
What is currently recycled in the BVI?
Answer:
Glass (all colours), plastics (all types excluding PVC) and aluminium cans
Why must I rinse my recyclables?
Answer:
By rinsing your recyclables you make things easier for our sorters and rinsing also reduces odours, flies, rats and maggots.
Do you collect Styrofoam?
Answer:
Yes, just ensure it is rinsed.
Do you accept food cans?
Answer:
No.
Do you accept cardboard?
Answer:
Not yet.
What happens to the glass?
Answer:
Glass is currently stockpiled to be used by local entrepreneurs as aggregate for various construction projects.
What happens to aluminium cans?
Answer:
Aluminium cans get baled and are shipped to external markets for recycling.
What happens to the plastics?
Answer:
All Plastics are sorted into the 7 different types. Clear plastic beverage bottles (PET 1) are baled and exported to a factory that recycles the plastic into new water bottles. The remainder of plastics (PVC) are upcycled locally into polywood that is used to make outdoor furniture, bins and an assortment of other products.
What does the WE RECYCLE system look like right now?
Answer:
-
- 2 Test Recycling Sites – VG & Tortola managed by the Department of Waste Management and Green VI. Once Government builds Material Recovery Facilities, operations will be tendered out to private recyclers
- 46 Recycling Drop-off locations on VG & Tortola
- App to show locations, measure volumes and promote waste reduction, reuse, recycling, repairing, refusing and rethinking
Is the app free or does one have to pay for it?
Answer:
The app is free of charge. Download here: www.greenvi.tk/technology/
I cannot find the app on the apple store or google play?
Answer:
Either scan the QR code or go to this link: www.greenvi.tk/technology/
How do I compost?
Answer:
Composting is a simple process of layering “brown” and “green” materials and encouraging the natural cycles of decomposition. Refer to our compost poster for brown/green lists. Once you’ve selected your site and bin, you regularly add green materials and layer with brown, like a lasagna. Keep it damp by watering if it looks or feels too dry. After the bin or pile has been filled, let it work for a few months. Turning it over about one a month helps speed the process. Once the material looks and smells like rich soil, it is ready to use directly on your garden.
Why Compost? What does it do/what are the benefits?
Answer:
Compost is like “black gold” for your garden. It is an organic soil amendment that feeds your plants and the soil to keep your garden growing vibrantly for the long term. It does all this while diverting waste from your kitchens, yards and communities and turning it into a valuable resource.
How do I compost?
Answer:
Composting is a simple process of layering “brown” and “green” materials and encouraging the natural cycles of decomposition. Refer to our compost poster for brown/green lists. Once you’ve selected your site and bin, you regularly add green materials and layer with brown, like a lasagna. Keep it damp by watering if it looks or feels too dry. After the bin or pile has been filled, let it work for a few months. Turning it over about one a month helps speed the process. Once the material looks and smells like rich soil, it is ready to use directly on your garden.
I can’t garden/I kill everything. What advice can you give me?
Answer:
The answer to this will vary greatly and depend on what each individual’s circumstances are.
- First, observe the space where you are gardening; the light, wind, moisture levels. Think about the types of plants you are growing. Are they appropriate for our climate? What season is it? Gardening is a lot about an understanding of natural cycles, and growing plants outside of these cycles often causes difficulty, not you!
- Pay attention to your soil. Are you growing in pots or in the ground? This will make a big difference on what advice you need. Have you added compost?
- Are you overwatering or under watering? How does your soil retain water? How much water does each plant need?
- Are your plants getting too much ventilation/breeze or not enough?
- Are they getting too much sun or not enough?
- Are they susceptible to certain pests? Which ones are you seeing?
What do you do in the school gardens?
Answer:
- Life skills: We teach students the practical skills necessary to grow food in a sustainable manner and create climate-resilient gardens to help feed their families.
- Lesson plans/integration: Our lesson plans integrate academic subjects (Math, science, social studies) in a way that they are teachable in our Garden Classrooms. With hands-on, experiential learning opportunities, utilizing our lesson plans in the gardens reaches students at all levels and empowers students to be independent and find new strengths.
- Eco-literacy: Our lesson plans and Garden Classrooms not only teach life skills and academics, they introduce students to eco-literacy. Eco-literacy is an understanding of natural systems that make life on Earth possible. It encourages students to assess the ways in which humans interact with the environment.
How can we get more local food/improve our food security in the BVI?
Answer:
Creating better access to healthy food for all is a goal of the Garden Project. Through our education efforts, we are helping families gain the skills necessary to grow more of their own food. We are also training next-gen farmers and agripreneurship. In this way we are building a future generation who have the ability to create a more secure food system for the BVI. Education around gardening also helps individuals understand the work undertaken by farmers and fisherman, and we as consumers can make informed food decisions. By growing more of our own food, we increase our resiliance and better understand our connection to our environment.
What are the aims and objectives of BugOut?
Answer:
Our main focus is to control larval mosquitoes while they are still in their aquatic habitat, whenever possible. Also,to empower residents through educational outreach on how to control mosquitoes on their premises and immediate environment.
Will the products used by the BugOut Programme to control mosquitoes hurt my plants, pets and children?
Answer:
BugOut employs environmentally-friendly control methods. All our products are biological and not of a chemical base. They are perfectly safe to use around plants, pets and children.
How long do the treatments used remain effective?
Answer:
Effectiveness should last up to four to six weeks.
Does BugOut fog?
Answer:
No unless under severe outbreaks. Fogging solicits the use of two very harmful chemicals combined. When diesel and Malathion are burned together this can cause difficult breathing for asthma sufferers and small children.
Do you treat rats, cockroaches, frogs, flies, sand flies and ants?
Answer:
No. The BugOut programme focus is primarily on mosquitoes that cause diseases.
Why do mosquitoes bite?
Answer:
Female mosquitoes bite because they require the nutrition of blood for the development of their eggs.
How do mosquitoes survive?
Answer:
Male mosquitoes survive by feeding on flower nectar and sweet juices. Female mosquitoes feed on various sugars for energy and also on the blood of humans.