More than 30,000 lbs of plastic unable to be transported amidst political unrest
Political instability continues to cripple Haiti. The actions of an extremely corrupt government frequently result in public protests, violence, and a temporary standstill of all public services. Transparency International's 2019 report ranked Haiti the second most corrupt country in the Western Hemisphere, behind Venezuela. Criminal organizations and gangs often take advantage of the situation, setting up violent roadblocks throughout the country, making any transportation extremely dangerous.
2020 has again been a very turbulent year. Political unrest in early January and February was soon taken over by the COVID-19 outbreak, but even as the virus has died down, the roads have still been too dangerous for Kay Blada Recycling's buyers to travel from Port-au-Prince to Hinche to collect recyclable material. Typically, Kay Blada sends a truckload of plastic to the port every month. We have been unable to do so for the past 9 months, leaving almost 30,000 pounds of plastic sitting in our facility.
Thankfully, due to our recent move last November, we have more than enough space to accommodate this amount of material - and to continue to do so for the foreseeable future. As our founder, Blada, has always accepted, working in Haiti will always have its difficulties. This is not the first time Kay Blada has dealt with instability in Haiti, and will almost certainly not be the last.
As always, the safety of our staff and our partners is our first priority. No plastic will be transported until the roads are safe enough to do so without risk. Kay Blada will continue to accept plastic from collectors and store it until the situation improves. Until then, we will focus on radio outreach and keeping our staff safe during the coronavirus epidemic.
