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While not a first, the meeting held earlier this week in Anguilla between the British island's Prime Minister, Cora Richardson-Hodge, and a St. Barth delegation led by the Collectivité's President, Xavier Lédée, was historic.the British island, Cora Richardson-Hodge, and a Saint-Barth delegation led by the President of the Collectivité, Xavier Lédée, was historic. It marks the establishment of a possible environmental cooperation aimed at improving waste management. In both Anguilla and Saint-Barthélemy. The official visit took place under the aegis of Syvade (Syndicat de valorisation des déchets de la Guadeloupe), which coordinates the "Zero Waste in the Caribbean" project. Zero waste in the Caribbean" project, whose last seminar was held in Saint-Barthélemy last May. This event led to the drafting of a document entitled "L'appel de Gustavia pour l'environnement". A few weeks earlier, at the end of August, the Anguilla government had already welcomed a delegation from Saba and representatives from Syvade.
A large delegation
This trip, which also included a delegation from Saint-Eustache, had a number of objectives. The first was to establish contact with the head of the Anguilla government, appointed by British Governor Julia Crouch on February 27. The aim was to initiate more in-depth discussions on setting up cooperation. "Discussions are underway to enable Anguilla, which has a large land reserve, to receive, process and recycle sargassum from Saint-Barthélemy in the short term", explains the Collectivité territoriale's communications department in an online publication dated Tuesday September 16. In fact, the other purpose of the visit was to assess Anguilla's waste treatment resources and needs.
To this end, the Saint-Barthélemy delegation included Fred Questel, manager of Ouanalao Environnement and director of the Paprec de Public waste management plant. Paprec de Public, Rudi Laplace, territorial councillor in charge of environmental issues, Chloé Cohan, director of technical services, and Ernest Brin, port manager. Anguilla is currently developing a major Marina project, which may also lead to increased collaboration with Saint-Barth.
Anguilla has only an open-air landfill (Photos DR).
An open-air landfill
The visitors were joined by Syvade president Dominique Biras, his chief of staff Elisabeth Thibault and Fabrice Devaed, coordinator of the "Zero Waste in the Caribbean" program. All were able to discover the extent of the work to be undertaken in Anguilla on the issue of waste management during a visit to the island's open-air landfill.
A mountain of tires, household appliances, filled garbage bags, car wrecks... All stored on the ground on a wasteland of more than 25 hectares. No sorting, no treatment, no landfill. It's a real disaster," comments Fabrice Devaed. So the idea is to find solutions to help Anguille rehabilitate its landfill. "This is confirmed by the Collectivité de Saint-Barth's communications department in its online publication of Tuesday September 16: "In an island context marked by limited resources, cooperation with neighboring islands appears to be a necessity. The development of regional partnerships makes it possible to pool skills, infrastructures and innovative solutions, strengthening our collective ability to meet environmental, economic and climate challenges. "
For the Collectivité territoriale, as mentioned above, the objective is to determine the means to take advantage of the space available in Anguilla to send the sargassum collected in Saint-Barth. This obviously involves rehabilitating the British territory's landfill, but also setting up a suitable structure. Once processed, the collected brown seaweed can be transported to Anguilla for processing, recovery and reuse. For the time being, the project is still in its infancy.
The President of the Collectivité, Xavier Lédée, commented: "We are strengthening regional cooperation to meet a major challenge: waste management. I would like to thank Cora Richardson-Hodge, Prime Minister of Anguille, for her warm welcome and commitment. This action is part of the Gustavia Appeal for the Environment. "
On Friday September 19, the Government of Anguilla issued an online press release emphasizing its "ongoing approach to sustainable waste management". It added: "The Government of Anguilla was pleased to welcome a delegation from Guadeloupe, St. Barts and St. Eustatius for a reconnaissance visit to Corito on September 16, 2025. Premier and Minister of Finance, Cora Richardson Hodge, and Minister of Economic Development, Industry, Commerce, Lands, Planning, Water and Natural Resources, Kyle Hodge. Kyle Hodge, discussed with the delegation how their respective territories (Guadeloupe, Saint-Barthélemy, Saba and Saint-Eustache) can support and collaborate with Anguilla. The exchange provided valuable expertise on existing waste management models, and highlighted innovative opportunities such as sargassum reclamation, which can have positive effects on the environment and our communities. Emphasis was placed on exploring a unified regional approach to designing waste management solutions that benefit multiple territories, reinforcing our collective commitment to the Gustavia Call for the Environment signed in May 2025. Both ministers praised the concrete investments made in the region to combat pollution and reaffirmed Anguilla's commitment to forging partnerships that will generate similar investments and impacts on our island."
From Anguilla to St. Eustatius
After the visit to Anguilla, the Syndicat de valorisation des déchets de la Guadeloupe delegation continued its official trip to Saint-Eustache. Accompanied by Fred Questel. These visits are also part of the European Union's INTERREG Caribbean program, focusing on the "Zero Waste in the Caribbean" program. Meetings with a number of the island's key players, including Statia Waste Solutions, EJL Services, the Environment, Nature and Infrastructure Department (ENI) and the Commissioner for Waste Management, Reuben Merkman, are on the agenda.
