The Commonwealth Games King’s Baton Relay made a stop at the Good Humans 268 facility in John Hughes yesterday. The event showcased an exciting recycling expo featuring over one million diverted plastic items, demonstrating the urgent need for improved waste management systems across the island.
Joshuanette Francis, the founding president of Good Humans 268, welcomed attendees to the remarkable display, sharing the scale of their recycling efforts.
“We have a recycling program in all 81 schools on the island, and what you’re seeing on the hill is over a million items that we have diverted from the landfill,” she explained. “This is proof that there’s a need for a better waste management system in Antigua and Barbuda.”
The event featured eight interactive stations demonstrating various aspects of the recycling process, from sorting and cleaning to manufacturing and distribution.
Visitors had the opportunity to participate in hands-on activities, including sorting bottle caps by color and watching the cleaning process in action.
Jasiel Murphy, head of the Environmental Management System and Pollution Unit, praised the organization’s dedication while framing recycling as an essential component of broader waste management strategies.
“What has been happening here in John Hughes has been a valiant effort by the team at Good Humans 268 to address the issue of recycling here in Antigua,” Murphy said. “The problem that we have in Antigua is that we view recycling as a novel concept, and recycling is really just part of waste management. It’s an important part of how we manage waste as a whole.”
The recycling expo highlighted not only environmental concerns but also upcoming initiatives, including attempts at two Guinness World Records, the most plastic bottles launched simultaneously and the most paper boats launched. These attempts will take place during sailing week, adding an element of community engagement to the environmental mission.
Natalya Lawrence, Country Director of Global Environment Facility (GEF) Small Grants Project, underlined the critical environmental impact of single-use plastics and the importance of recycling initiatives while awaiting broader systemic changes.
“The ideal situation is to rid or reduce the use of single-use plastics because we use them for like five minutes and then they persist way after we’ve gone,” Lawrence explained. “They break down into microplastics, and they don’t actually degrade for centuries. So, the ideal thing is to actually not use single-use plastics at all, but in the interim, what do we do with what we have? The idea is to get everyone recycling.”
The event also provided context about changes to the King’s Baton Relay tradition. Neil Cochrane from the Antigua Barbuda Olympic Ensemble explained that following Queen Elizabeth II’s passing in 2022, King Charles introduced a new approach to the relay.
“Unlike in previous years, we had one baton that went to all of the countries. After the passing of the Queen in 2022, the King took over, and his initiative has changed a little bit,” he detailed. “He’s decided to get a different baton and send a baton to each territory, which we will uniquely design.”
This year’s relay places special emphasis on environmental initiatives, reflecting King Charles’ vision for Commonwealth nations to prioritize eco-friendly practices ahead of the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland in July 2026.
The Department of Environment supported the event by providing 100 recycling bins for distribution to households, further encouraging community participation in waste management solutions. The Good Humans 268 recycling program, which received $98,000 in grant funding from GEF Small Grants and Sandals Foundation for the 2023-2024 school year, continues to make significant strides in environmental education and waste diversion across Antigua and Barbuda.
