THE founder of a Guyana-based recycling initiative has urged citizens to rethink household waste as a source of wealth rather than rubbish, telling the Minister of Local Government and Regional Development this week that landfill overcrowding begins not at the dumpsite, but in the kitchen.
Rampertab Etwaria, Founder of Waste To Wealth Caribbean Inc., paid a courtesy visit to Minister Priya Manickchand to outline his organisation’s environmental work and propose greater collaboration with government, businesses and communities to expand its reach across the country.
According to a press release issued by Waste To Wealth, Etwaria used the meeting to present the movement’s citizen-led model for diverting biodegradable resources away from garbage trucks and landfills before they are even collected.
The approach centres on four steps citizens are encouraged to adopt: separate, divert, compost and monetise. Through the model, households combine organic kitchen waste with cardboard in a backyard composting system to produce what the organisation calls Organic Miracle Garden Soil, or O.M.G.S., over a period of roughly 12 weeks. The finished product can then be used to regenerate soil, support home food production, or be sold.
“We want to upgrade how citizens think, from waste management to wealth management,” Etwaria said. “Instead of asking only how we manage garbage when it reaches the dumpsite, we want citizens asking how much of what leaves their kitchens should ever become garbage in the first place.”
Etwaria briefed the Minister on the movement’s progress so far in 2026, which includes six educational activations and 77 families educated and activated across Georgetown and Linden. A number of these, referred to by the organisation as Champion Families, are continuing through their composting and harvesting journeys.
Among the year’s milestones was the introduction of Guyana’s first observance of International Compost Awareness Week in May, which featured an activation at the National Park that reached 39 families. The event formed part of a broader push by the movement to activate 1,000 Champion Families and cut landfill-bound waste by 25 per cent by 2030.
Waste To Wealth Caribbean is a Guyana-based, citizen-led movement focused on building cleaner communities, regenerating soil, supporting household food production, and creating economic opportunities by helping residents see value in resources they once dismissed as waste.
The organisation maintains that a lasting solution to Guyana’s waste challenges cannot rest with garbage collectors, trucks and dumpsites alone, arguing that citizens must be equipped to make different decisions about biodegradable resources before they ever leave the home.
To support this, Waste To Wealth Caribbean currently runs a 12-week Family Programme teaching households how to convert kitchen scraps and cardboard into O.M.G.S. Families can take part through a GYD $25,000 do-it-yourself option or a GYD $50,000 supported programme, which includes mentorship and on-site guidance through to their first harvest. Participants who complete a successful harvest and meet the programme’s requirements may go on to qualify for the movement’s Train the Trainer pathway.
The Minister’s engagement with the initiative follows a citywide cleanup campaign she led alongside her Ministry last October, which marked the beginning of intensified efforts to restore and maintain cleanliness across Georgetown and reinforced the government’s broader vision of a cleaner, safer and more sustainable environment for all citizens.