For the OECS region, it will indeed be a memorable one for solid waste practitioners, as they assemble in Grenada from June 4th-6th, 2003 to participate in the regional conference dubbed ‘Solid Waste Management In The OECS: Past, Present & Future’.

Certainly, this has been a long haul for waste practitioners who have from 1996 been carving out the solid waste story in the OECS region, amidst its perils and visible victories. Not only have they been able to turn ‘garbage’ into reputable ‘solid waste’, success has been realized in upgrading and effecting improved waste management across the board, in collaboration and with support from the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), the Global Environment Facility (GEF), the European Union (EU), the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the World Bank.

The high-powered opening ceremony is testimony to and certainly indicative of the high level of commitment that the regional governments pay to solid waste in our environment.

The feature address will be delivered by the Prime Minster of Grenada, Dr. Keith Mitchell coupled with remarks from newly appointed Director General of the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States, Dr. Len Ishmael, Country Officer for the Caribbean Country Management Unit of the World Bank, Ms. Rachel Mc Colgan and Director of Projects at the Caribbean Development Bank, Mr. Carlson Gough.

The waste symposium session spans two days of intensive delivery on varying aspects of waste management from the operational to educational. A special feature of this symposium will be an exhibition of environmental education (EE) materials developed over this six-year regional project.

The Solid Waste Environmental Educators Network (SWEEN) is co-coordinating this aspect that is hoped to attract the attention of numerous students in Grenada and the public as a whole.