There's growing concern in St. Lucia about an agreement with a Canadian firm that can result in the island possibly having to import waste to help generate electricity.

On October 19, St. Lucia's Minister of Communications, Works, Transport and Public Utilities, Guy Joseph, signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Elementa Group and Island Green Energy at Sault Ste. Marie City Hall in Canada.

Elementa turns trash into synthetic gas to run generators and invited the minister to Canada to see its operations.

The minister said he "will recommend" his country do business with Elementa, as the process will divert much of the island's solid waste from its landfills while generating seven megawatts of renewable energy.

Most of St. Lucia's electricity (about 57 megawatts) comes from fossil fuel-powered generators.

"This gives the country a larger-than-acceptable carbon footprint and it leaves the economy vulnerable to fluctuating oil prices," said Joseph.

For Elementa, the St. Lucia deal, if accepted, will be its first in the Caribbean.

But it will also be only one of several being addressed by the government with an eye on developing alternative energy sources.

The island is already seeking geothermal energy from the popular Sulphur Springs – better known as the world's only drive-in volcano – through a US-based company called Qualibou.

The local electricity company, LUCELEC, is also interested in developing wind energy.

But local and regional environmental agencies expressed concerns about the possibility that the island may not generate enough waste on a sustainable basis to keep the plant generating power permanently.

Sources close to the St. Lucia National Trust say they fear the island may end up having to import waste to keep the plant going, which can see the island entering the murky world of trading in other nations' waste.

Said the Trust source, "We already have external waste being dumped on Haiti and toxic and nuclear waste going through our Caribbean waters undetected.

"If St. Lucia succeeds with this municipal waste venture, who is to say we will not want to now start doing big business buying other people's rubbish?"

He indicated that the Trust is "closely monitoring" both the Elementa and Qualibou projects.