Piles of discarded batteries at the Bovoni landfill on St. Thomas may soon begin shrinking. The St. Thomas/St. John Anti-Litter and Beautification Commission is bringing in officials of a lead-acid battery recycling firm from Florida to begin planning the orderly removal of the old batteries.
They will tour the landfill on Thursday and have made a commitment to help the territory meet Environmental Protection Agency requirements.
An April consent order obligated the territory to remove and ship batteries to a recycling center.
Jim Casey, Virgin Islands coordinator for the EPA, said the latest development is somewhat encouraging. "The agency sees any activity by Public Works to institute management elements at the landfill as very positive," Casey said.
The EPA's interest in proper battery disposal and all other aspects of good landfill management is ongoing, Casey added. "It ties in as an integral part of what the agency would like to see put in place," he said. "PWD would be taking the initiative to institute practical management elements that would be necessary on a day-by-day basis to keep the landfill in some semblance of a permitted landfill."
The Florida company, Gulf Coast Recycling, already handles discarded batteries under agreement with several stateside cities and the Cayman Islands. It is the only secondary lead smelter in Florida.
Just as the EPA requires that dumps and landfills handle toxic materials responsibly, Casey said it also regulates the shipment and recycling of such materials.