Showcasing innovative solutions to tackle waste

Over 20 local organisations to demonstrate circular economy in action at the Circular City at the 2024 edition of the Trade and Investment Convention (TIC), July 11-13.  

Circular City Exhibitors Schedule

Bougainvillea Hall,
Centre Of Excellence
17A Macoya Rd, Tunapuna, Trinidad & Tobago

“We think TIC is an ideal space to share the efforts of SMEs, NGOs and state actors who’ve been in the trenches, taking the risks, and doing the hard work and the research in the waste sector. It’s the common ground we need to meet and engage our different audiences and we’re looking forward to it.”
Omar Mohammed
The Cropper Foundation CEO
“We are excited to host the first Circular City at the Trade and Investment Convention as we celebrate our 25th anniversary. We wish to affirm our dedication to sustainable innovation and envisioning a future where resources are cherished, reused, and rejuvenated. This event represents a significant milestone where collaboration catalyses transformation, forging a resilient future for T&T.”
Dr Mahindra Ramesh Ramdeen
CEO of the TTMA, host of the annual Trade & Investment Convention
“Our participation highlights our pivotal role and continued commitment to sustainability and the promotion of the circular economy as part of the solution to the global climate emergency by adopting a Re-think, Re-create, Re-cycle, Re-generate mindset towards a more sustainable future."
Environmental Management Authority (EMA)
Key collaborator in the Circular City

Our presentation of the Circular City at this year’s TIC aims to centre circular economy principles and activities in a space created to explore possibilities and opportunities for Caribbean businesses. Organisers of the Circular City are hoping to drive this conversation with the business community and the wider public by showcasing local entrepreneurs and community organisations integrating sustainability and circularity in their delivery of products and services.  

Across the world, states have been wrestling with waste management challenges, attributed in the main to the dominant linear economic model of ‘take-make-use-waste’.  The situation is no less pressing in Trinidad and Tobago, as evidenced in SWMCOL’s 2023 Waste Characterisation Study, which shows that over the period 2020-2022 the amount of (unsorted) waste piling into Trinidad’s landfills peaked to around 770,000 tons annually.  

Identified as the sustainable counterpart to the linear economy, the circular economy is premised on the principles of reduction, reuse, and recovery. It emphasises the maintenance of value of materials and products for as long as possible, and the options for regenerating value once they have reached the end of their useful life.  

“Circular City” – the culmination of the Daz Good Ting digital campaign

Daz Good Ting (DGT) is a consumer behaviour change campaign that aims to encourage people to minimise waste by engaging these 5 Rs: Reduce, Reuse, Repair, Repurpose, Recycle. With its emphasis on “good ting”, it reinforces the value of many materials and products being discarded. Instead of contributing to waste in our landfills, we can extend the life of items through maintenance and find ways to regenerate value once they have reached the end of their useful life.
 
Daz Good Ting was hatched in 2023 in a collaborative brainstorming process involving a small multi-stakeholder group (Siel Environmental Services Ltd, Hello Green, EMA, Cashew Gardens Community Council, Every Bottle Back and The Cropper Foundation), facilitated by Lonsdale Saatchi & Saatchi.  
 

Catalysing and Connecting the Circular Economy in T&T

The campaign is part of the wider IDB-Lab funded project “Catalyzing and Connecting the Circular Economy in Trinidad and Tobago.” This project has supported the realisation of various initiatives including the creation of the Container Recycling Services Ltd, responsible for Every Bottle Back, the Green Screen Environmental Film Festival’s Circular Economy category prize in the 2023 Very Short Shorts Mobile Film Competition; and the Full Circle Challenge hosted by COSTAATT.  

Check out the full list of exhibitors taking part in the Circular City and get links to their websites and social media to learn more about their work.

Visitors can look forward to an engaging, stimulating display at the Circular City, conceptualised and designed by the team at Everything Slight Pepper under the leadership of creative director Jeunanne Alkins.

For updates on the Circular City and more information on the Daz Good Ting campaign, follow @thecropperfndn and @dazgoodting across Instagram and Facebook.