Waste Volumes
There is no doubt about it; Bermuda produces a lot of waste. Bermudians produce 80,000 tonnes of waste a year. That's 2739 pounds for every man, woman, and child that lives on the island! Why so much you ask? The reason is centered in the fact that, as a small island, Bermuda has to import almost 85% of the items locals consume. Each product shipped from abroad must be packaged sufficiently to avoid damage during transport. This involves the use of additional materials like boxing, pallets, plastics and Styrofoam. There is clearly good intent behind the excessive use of packaging in this way; the only downside is that once it arrives on Bermudian shores, the disposal of this material becomes a local problem.
Tynes Bay Incinerator has two incineration streams each capable of incinerating 6 tonnes of waste per hour. This means that each stream, if it were to operate 24 hours a day, would be capable of incinerating 52,560 tonnes of waste a year. Obviously, the facility does not operate around the clock in this way, but the point is that even if it did, Tynes Bay is only able to dispose of 105,120 tonnes of waste annually. Given Bermuda's rapidly expanding population, the ability of Tynes Bay to process an additional 25,120 tonnes of garbage a year is a minimal cushion and cause for community concern. Heaven forbid that one of the incinerator streams should go offline...