CEPEP pursues Business Partnerships

The CEPEP Company Limited, at its core, has always been about environmental protection and beautification.

CEPEP receives subventions from the government to deliver on its mandate but the organization has been looking to the private sector for inspiration. It is angling for revenue through new business partnerships.

Creating revenue streams for the company

Although state-funded, CEPEP is determined to earn its keep. The organisation has reshaped its structure to better serve communities. A major part of this drive includes business partnerships. Deploying skills which have always benefitted our towns and villages, CEPEP is now marketing that expertise in several niche areas.

Contributing to culture

When the music and mirth of the Carnival season have faded, revellers are perhaps scarcely aware that following fast on their heels is another section, dressed in green. In Carnival venues nationwide, whether it’s stick fighting at Skinner Park or the National Junior Panorama Finals at the Queen’s Park Savannah, the detritus of this annual festival doesn’t linger for very long.

The CEPEP Company Limited partners with the National Carnival Commission each year, securing contracts to keep venues ready for the deluge of people. This is just one way CEPEP’s new business-minded approach supports T&T’s diverse tourism offerings.

CEPEP crews keep cultural venues ever-ready for spectators

Beautifying a natural wonder

The La Brea Pitch Lake in South West Trinidad is one of the most significant natural wonders found on these islands. This remarkable geological feature attracts thousands of visitors each year.

In order to keep the site in pristine condition for tourists, The CEPEP Company Limited shook hands on a deal with Lake Asphalt to maintain the periphery of the Pitch Lake. Now, there’s no waist-high grass or snarled bramble on the footpath to the lake, only manicured surroundings punctuated by fruit trees. 

On the job at the world famous La Brea Pitch Lake

Making our highways safe and beautiful

CEPEP’s services are also reflected in areas we all travel every day but perhaps take for granted.

Unruly overgrowth along our highway medians and shoulders is not only unsightly, but affects visibility, particularly during the fiery dry season. Thanks to a partnership between the Ministry of Works and CEPEP, resilient grasses are regularly trimmed by CEPEP crews. The company’s Highway Beautification Programme makes our highways more appealing and reduces the hazards of roadside bush fires. 

CEPEP's highway crews keeping our roads safe and beautiful

Contributing to health care

In keeping with the organisation’s mantra, “CEPEP Does More”, the company jumped on the opportunity to provide improvement works at health centres and hospitals in the North West and North Central regions.

CEPEP crews worked on 46 health centres, the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex, the Port of Spain General Hospital and the Caura Hospital. At these facilities, CEPEP upgraded walkways to improve wheelchair accessibility, expanded car parks, painted buildings and spruced up patient waiting rooms, bathrooms and kitchenettes.

These improvements, among many others, have created a more user-friendly and comfortable atmosphere for patients, contributing to the overall enhancement of health care delivery. 

The CEPEP touch adds to the delivery of health care

Battling beverage containers in the environment

Given CEPEP’s commitment to environmental protection and enhancement, a project to rid the environment of long-lived beverage containers was a natural fit.

CEPEP collaborated with several institutions, including the Environmental Management Authority, the Solid Waste Management Company and the Institute of Marine Affairs on this important initiative. The CEPEP Company Limited provided the labour, gathering vast amounts of beverage containers cluttering our environment. These waste materials were transported to designated sites for sorting. The company is particularly pleased to have had its business aspirations dovetail with its guiding principles of environmental conservation. 

Working to combat the scourge of beverage containers in the environment

A forward looking organisation

While The CEPEP Company Limited remains reliant on the state for funding, it continues to look ahead with a heavy emphasis on reducing its dependency on the taxpayer. Heavy equipment rental, as well as home and commercial landscaping services have also been added to the growing list of initiatives which bring revenue into the company. The company’s business outlook demonstrates the versatility of the CEPEP product.

Our fleet of heavy equipment available for commercial use

CEPEP continues to develop a model of self-sufficiency. This entrepreneurial spirit represents a first for social programmes in Trinidad and Tobago.

Ever mindful of its commitment to communities, The CEPEP Company Limited stays true to its goal of becoming the number one environmental services company in the country. Now running parallel to that goal is the promotion of business partnerships that make for a more viable, robust organisation.

CEPEP partners with Lake Asphalt

Thousands of visitors are drawn to the mystery of the Pitch Lake

Heat rising from the black surface of the Pitch Lake distorts the image of tourists shuffling over the spongy asphalt. A modest-sized group shields themselves from the fierce sun above with parasols which offer no protection against the hot air radiated from below.

This natural phenomenon has always attracted visitors from far and wide. It is a source of pride in our citizens to boast of an incredible geological feature right here in Trinidad.

Treasuring a local, natural wonder

It’s a pride shared by The CEPEP Company Limited. Now in partnership with Lake Asphalt of Trinidad and Tobago to regularly maintain the periphery of the La Brea Pitch Lake, CEPEP crews keep the site in pristine condition for visitors flocking to this natural wonder of the world.

An estimated 20,000 people make the pilgrimage to the Pitch Lake each year to learn the fascinating history of this dynamic, ever changing environment.

A group of locals embarks on a guided tour of the Pitch Lake

CEPEP crews work their way along the perimeter, taming bush that sprouts up along the paths walked by visitors.

When groups of tourists break for lunch at the Pitch Lake Visitors’ Centre, it now overlooks a beautifully manicured site, thanks to hard working CEPEP teams.

The mystery of the lake

This expanse of heaving and belching natural asphalt has captivated man for centuries.

It was known to the Amerindians long before its ‘discovery’ by English explorer Sir Walter Raleigh in the late 1500s.

Estimated to be 250 feet deep at the centre of the 100 acre lake, this cauldron of geologic forces is believed to hold 10 million tonnes of pitch. The versatile resource is used as road surfacing material and even as protective coatings for vehicles. 

CEPEP workers keep the surroundings of the Pitch Lake clean

CEPEP pitches in to make La Brea world class

With growing global demand for cultural tourism, the La Brea Pitch Lake is one of many cultural assets that make T&T a diverse destination for any traveller.

CEPEP crews ensure that visitors to the site see only the Pitch Lake and not unruly overgrowth encroaching the area.

The CEPEP Company Limited, like the Pitch Lake, is always on the move, continuing its evolution, delivering more to the people of this country.

The Green Economy in Trinidad

Dramatically shifting weather patterns and the increased frequency of powerful storms continue to whip up debate about climate change.

For the Caribbean, the symptoms of climate change are particularly menacing. Islands in the region face the threat of sea level rise. In Trinidad and Tobago, there are few places of human habitation that aren’t flood prone. We often find ourselves at the mercy of flash floods after only 30 minutes of rain.

Even as the conversation on climate change rages on, several countries are aggressively trying to develop a ‘green economy’. In China, where there is ever-growing demand for energy to prop up a mushrooming economy and expanding consumer appetites, this emerging superpower is investing in renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power. On the African continent, Uganda is spreading the gospel of organic farming, dramatically reducing harmful inputs like pesticides.

CEPEP takes on ‘greening’

Here in T&T, we are adopting our own brand of ‘greening’.

The CEPEP Company Limited has long been linked to environmental protection. It’s right there in the name - The Community-Based Environmental Protection and Enhancement Programme. This, however, goes far beyond a name or prevailing perceptions of what CEPEP is or does.

The concept of the green economy, as expressed through CEPEP, can be found in countless communities across Trinidad. A visit to the village of Lopinot in the northern part of the island provides a good example.

The Lopinot Valley is a good example of the green economy at work

This verdant valley is beautified further by the consistent input of CEPEP gangs trimming road verges, pushing back rebellious growth and reducing the hazards of blind corners along a very narrow road.

A battalion of green overall-ed residents descends on the river traversing this scenic community, clearing up the detritus of raucous weekend limes and riverside ‘cook ups’. On sandy river banks, countless bags of garbage are lined up, all collected by CEPEP workers for disposal.

Healthy environment, healthy revenue

Not seeing the green economy in this scenario yet? Well, Lopinot is an important tourist destination, revered not just for its riveting historical sites but the latent eco-tourism potential resident in its forests.

The sweat equity of the CEPEP worker helps to maintain the Lopinot tourism product, and, in so doing, supports the local business community.

CEPEP workers help keep the Lopinot tourism product in tip top shape

Visitors from at home and abroad, eager to sample what Lopinot has to offer, funnel critical support to small businesses in the community. They come, they frolic, buy food and drink. They may even collapse into a bed for a night or two at a guest house. It is this tourism revenue that allows residents to benefit directly from using their most precious resource, the environment, in a sustainable manner.

It is highly unlikely that visitors would find Lopinot a desirable location if they were confronted by hillocks of rubbish and rivers and streams smothered with gleefully discarded bottles.

Lopinot illustrates how CEPEP functions as an investment in development which has at its core environmental conservation. Outsiders may leave the place in a mess but CEPEP is always there to ensure that Lopinot, as an economic commodity inextricably tied to environmental preservation, will always attract fair market value.

As a small island acutely subject to increasingly capricious weather patterns attributed to global warming, we must wean ourselves off petrochemical dependency and diversify our economy. The work of The CEPEP Company Limited is an immensely important component in T&T’s march towards a green economy.   

Guardians of our Marine Spaces

Uniformly green flat-bottom boats sway lazily on the risen tide, tugging gently at their rope leashes. The brackish murk of a man-made canal laps at the bank where a gaggle of tourists is gathered.

This is the Caroni Bird Sanctuary in Trinidad, perhaps the best known eco-tourism destination in the country. It is also home to the national bird, the scarlet ibis.It’s why these visitors are here, fussing with cameras and backpacks, enveloping themselves in a fog of insect repellent before gingerly boarding open-air boats which will ferry them down a green corridor into the unknown.

The flotilla motors slowly into the swamp, the guides keep a sharp eye out for anything of interest.

“If you look to your left you will see something tangled in that tree. We call it a cascabel. It is a tree dwelling snake.” Just as the guide directs the attention of the excited boat passengers to the coiled snake, a flock of scarlet ibis flies over a gap in the mangrove growth.

Scarlet Ibis returning to roost in the Caroni Swamp

“And if you look up quickly you will see our national bird.” Everyone’s eyes are now skyward, eager hands fumble at cameras and binoculars and a chorus of oohs and aahs rises from the tour party. As they look back down, something else in the swamp catches their attention, trapped in the tangle of mangrove roots, it’s….what can it be?

Pollution in the Caroni Swamp

Closer inspection uncloaks the mystery, the rusted carcass of an old washing machine. A hush falls on the boat, puzzled looks work their way across the faces of the visitors. The boats drift slowly past a majestic blue heron perched atop a Dell computer monitor.

These travellers came from far and wide to venture into the Caroni Swamp. There are countless wonderful things to see in this diverse habitat. The image that will probably be shared the most, however, is that picture of a bird…standing on a computer…in a swamp. Not an ideal postcard, given that the Caroni Bird Sanctuary is billed as one of the most important eco-tourism sites in Trinidad and Tobago.

Thankfully, that sort of imagery is increasingly rare today in this treasured wetland. The advent of the CEPEP Marine programme has dramatically changed the appearance of the swamp.

At the crack of dawn each morning, CEPEP crews arrive for the daily routine of combing the swamp for society’s waste. At the end of each day, roughly 60 to 80 bags of garbage are collected. That is quite the haul. From discarded fans to microwaves, you name it, they find it.

A CEPEP Marine crew offloads their haul for the day

Protecting wetlands and coastlines

Recognizing the urgent need to remove these pollutants from riverine and coastal environments, CEPEP Marine was born. Crews scour the coastline for waste of every imaginable size and shape; from the Western Peninsula all the way down to South Trinidad, the scope of this programme is vast. 

Contractors average a monthly tally of 6,000 bags of garbage. In fact, since the programme started in 2012, 210,000 bags of garbage have been collected by CEPEP Marine teams. Now that is a staggering statistic!

The benefits of CEPEP Marine, widely felt in many communities across the country, are perhaps best reflected in the Caroni Bird Sanctuary.

A day’s worth of work in the Caroni Swamp

The appropriate disposal of garbage will involve a process of education over time to change inherited bad habits. In the meantime, CEPEP marine delivers a consistent, invaluable service where no other agency, public or private, dares to tread.

In the Caroni Swamp and elsewhere in Trinidad, the importance of this ground-breaking initiative is undeniable.