To put it into perspective, this equals the combined weight of approximately 17 fully-grown male African elephants.

The contents of the 117-tonne collection specifically comprise 5,287lbs of plastic bottles; 1,200lbs of cling wrap; 2,980lbs of beverage cans and food tins; 2,230lbs of e-waste (computer, printers, etcetera); 5,700lbs of scrap metals; 2,37,600lbs glass aggregate; and 253lbs organic material.

According to the Managing Director of Green & Clean BVI, Julie Swartz, the waste will be shipped in a 40-foot container by mid-June, if all goes as planned.

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Swart said her Virgin Gorda based-company has been in existence for the last six years and most of the items are collected from Virgin Gorda and Tortola.

“We provide sustainable waste disposal services for money for customers like the Government House and TICO. We export the majority of waste that we collect to the end markets outside the BVI,” she told BVI News on Sunday.

Due to the threat of the COVID-19 her company is taking extra precautionary measures to protect its staff during collection.

She said the recyclable items are taken up first thing in the morning, after being left outside from the previous night.

“So we don’t have any contact with people. Some materials we spray down and disinfect it, and we always wear our personal protective equipment, as standard procedure,” she said.

Swartz said she hopes government will soon want to have private sector businesses like her company involved with recycling and disposal of recyclable items instead of disposing these items at the waste disposal dumps.