The Island’s waste recycling service will continue “as far as we know”, according to Waste Management’s education and enforcement officer, Vanese Gordon.

But recycling is doomed to remain a money-losing enterprise, especially for an Island jurisdiction stuck with importing and exporting.

“One of the things that confounds us is shipping — we’ve worked very hard with chopping companies, they have been very helpful with us on that score,” Ms Gordon said.

The Island ships recyclables to Port Elizabeth, New Jersey, or Jacksonville, Florida, then seeks businesses as close as possible to process waste such as car batteries, air conditioners, motor oil and cans.

Glass, the biggest component of recyclables generated by Bermuda, remains on the Island.

“We primarily use it in Government for drainage,” Ms Gordon said, noting that buying aggregate to be placed in the ground could run up to $60 per tonne.

Waste Management is trying to arrange better deals with golf courses to use glass, which can be converted into a substrate to balance out the pH of Bermuda’s soils. Speaking to Hamilton Rotary Club, Ms Gordon said each Bermuda resident creates about 2.3lbs of domestic waste daily.

Although recycling is voluntary rather than mandatory, figures from the 2010 census show nearly half of residents recycle trash.

Anything placed in the regular trash is burned at the Tynes Bay incinerator.

The Island lacks the resources to sort trash in advance.