KRALENDIJK – The Executive Council of Bonaire has failed to meet the previously agreed deadline to decide on an alternative location for waste processing by 1 July at the latest. A new parliamentary letter reveals that a location recommendation is now not expected until mid-October. After that, the Executive Council will still need to make a final decision.
Bonaire.nu reported back in December last year that binding agreements on a structural solution for waste processing had to be in place by 1 July 2026 at the latest. The administrative agreement also stipulated that the Executive Council had to make a decision on an alternative location by that date. That decision has still not been made.
State Secretary Annet Bertram of Infrastructure and Water Management is now writing to the House of Representatives that Deloitte and Witteveen+Bos are still conducting research into a future-proof scenario and a location for a new multi-purpose transfer and sorting centre. According to her, that research will not be completed until mid-October. After that, the Executive Council must „promptly” choose a definitive location.
It was already clear in June that the alternative to Lagun had not been sufficiently developed. A KPMG study at the time showed that Bonaire was primarily focused on stabilising the current situation, while it had yet to be determined how waste would be processed after 2028.
New deadline for implementing organisation
The parliamentary letter also contains a new concrete deadline. By 1 October at the latest, a detailed proposal must be in place for an implementing organisation that will carry out the approach to the waste problem between 2026 and 2028.
That organisation must work under the leadership of the Public Entity Bonaire on an alternative to the landfill, organise future waste streams and ensure that Lagun can be taken out of service in a controlled manner.
The goal remains to stop dumping waste at Lagun entirely by 31 December 2028 at the latest. This was already known and was reported by Bonaire.nu at the end of last year.
The expanded role of the central government in licensing, supervision and enforcement is also not new. Bonaire.nu reported extensively on this last Monday. The Minister of Infrastructure and Water Management is ultimately to become the competent authority for the Selibon permit, and the Environment and Transport Inspectorate will oversee supervision and enforcement.
The most important new development from the parliamentary letter is therefore primarily that the earlier deadline for the future waste location has been missed and that the decision-making process is once again being postponed. At the same time, a new interim milestone is being introduced on 1 October with the plan for the implementing organisation.
How much the full transition will cost is not yet known. The implementing organisation must further develop the financial requirements. The central government and the Public Entity Bonaire will then jointly examine how the necessary funding can be arranged.
