Earth Today | Recycling meets good times

WITH THE sustainability of Negril a key focus, Dream Entertainment Limited recently partnered with the Recycling Partners of Jamaica (RPJ) and Smilozone for the collection of both plastic and glass bottles used at Dream WKND for recycling.

From July 28 to Aug 1, RPJ took on the task of recycling plastic bottles at the summer event. Throughout the weekend, the entity collected and stored all PET and HDPE plastic bottles and transported them to the Negril depot for processing.

“The recycling agency has entered into a partnership with Dream Entertainment to provide recycling activations at all Xodus and Dream WKND events for the rest of 2023 and into 2024,” said a release from the entity.

According to Candice Ming, marketing and public relations manager at RPJ, “This is the first time RPJ and Dream are collaborating to establish recycling at an event. Since 2022, RPJ has been partnering with events to institute plastic recycling, helping Jamaicans to get in touch with the habit.

“Our efforts have resulted in 800 kilograms of plastic bottles being recycled and not ending up in landfills or the environment; that’s approximately 39,000 bottles, and we’re looking forward to an increase in this as we partner with Dream Entertainment in future events,” she added in the release.

Smilozone decided to partner with Dream Entertainment, noting that Dream WKND is one of, if not the biggest, party experiences in Jamaica, making it an ideal partner for collaboration on the environment.

Smilozone’s collection of glass bottles yielded 15,000 pounds of the material, which will be exported for recycling into new glasses.

“As a leader in the entertainment industry and with every party being food- and drink-inclusive, which means an accumulation of a large amount of waste, we thought that it was important to partner with Dream in getting the message of environmental sustainability and the recycling of glass out to the wider public,” said Carlton Bartley, executive director of Smilozone.

“Dream Entertainment has always been great corporate citizens and we look to build a long and mutually beneficial relationship between the two organisations,” he added.

Scott Dunn, managing director of Dream Entertainment, said they are happy for the partnership with RPJ and Smilozone “to assist us in the proper disposal of waste that we accumulate at Dream WKND”.

“Environmental awareness has come a long way in Jamaica, but there’s still so much to be done, so we used this opportunity as an acceptance of our responsibility to lessen the negative impact on our environment. We at Dream have made it our priority to work towards a sustainable future by reducing, recycling and repurposing waste,” he added.

RPJ, headquartered in Kingston, has seven depots across Jamaica – in St Catherine, Manchester, St Thomas, St Mary, Westmoreland and two in St James. Members of the public can also take advantage of the more than 400 drop-off cages throughout the country.