SoualiGas, cleaning up waste
Matthew Halley, co-founder of SoualiGas, knew from a young age that he wanted to help solve environmental issues. Growing up on St. Maarten, he witnessed a nearby lake being turned into a temporary landfill. It brought many problems and serious health consequences to the surrounding communities. This motivated him to create SoualiGas, a way to transform waste into resources and economic opportunities. Focused on empowering islands and remote communities, SoualiGas are islanders, helping islanders.
Waste wasting away
St. Maarten is an island located in the Caribbean. Many of the islands have a tourism-based economy. Airlines and cruise ships tend to leave a lot of waste behind. St. Maarten has around 73.000 inhabitants, yet the island generates 300.000 tons of waste per year. That is 9.7 kilograms of waste per capita per day. Besides, every 3 to 5 years, huge piles of debris are created by hurricanes. The landfill close to Matthew’s home is located on the Great Salt Pond, a lake in the middle of St. Maarten. In the 70s, this lake was chosen as a temporary landfill, but it’s still there today, and it keeps on growing. The landfill has been overfilled for years, taking up scarce land on the island. After Hurricane Irma, a second temporary landfill was created, which also still exists today.
Many islands across the Caribbean and the rest of the globe are fighting the same battle. Enormous amounts of waste, overfilled landfills, hurricane debris, and frequent fires. These islands don’t have the economic base to process the waste properly, and no place for it to go. They need something flexible and tailored to their needs.
The name of SoualiGas is inspired by the original name of St. Maarten, ‘Soualiga’, meaning the ‘land of salt’. Salty lands were a disadvantage until salt became a resource. SoualiGas wants to do the same again, to transform waste into a resource. With SoualiGas, Matthew wants to give his people something to dream about. The idea had been brewing in Matthew’s head for many years, until a minister from St. Maarten heard about his idea and encouraged him to develop it and see where it would lead. He decided to quit his job and go to Wageningen University & Research to do his Master’s in Urban Environmental Management and to develop his business idea.
How to tackle the waste and energy crisis – Closing the loop
SoualiGas utilises gasification, superheating waste without oxygen. Instead of burning the waste, it vaporises. This method breaks the waste down into gas and carbon. That can be transformed into new resources, such as fuels, electricity, hydrogen, and even fertiliser. Even medical, toxic, and hazardous waste (except for nuclear waste) can be processed. After the gasification, the only materials that remain are glass, steel, and carbon. They can be recycled after.
This process creates resources from waste. They can create clean fuels while removing carbon from the waste. This creates the opportunity to recycle the carbon, without having to use fossil fuels again. They give everything a second, third, or fourth life. On top of that, the equipment uses part of the gas that is generated during the process. The equipment immediately consumes the gas to keep itself running.
SoualiGas’ method wasn’t the original idea; there have been a lot of pivots. The first idea was purely how to get rid of the waste on St. Maarten and provide a service back to the community. They found a type of gasification that was most in line with their goals, environmentally conscious, low carbon emission, and sequestering of carbon.
Support on his journey
Besides the labs, facilities and network at Wageningen, StartHub’s support and mentorship have been an important part of Matthew’s journey. At StartHub, they were willing to listen to those ‘crazy ideas’ and he found encouragement and support.
StartHub has been a real accelerator for Matthew. He mentioned: ‘Every time that I had a dip in my own confidence, there was another meeting. You come out so inspired, so you keep going and before you know it, a year has passed, and so much progress has been made.’
Creating a legacy
SoualiGas’ method produces energy, reduces environmental impact, reduces dependence on fossil fuels, and recovers resources. But it is also scalable and adaptable. Matthew wants to leave a legacy behind. To clean up the lake, to honour his family, for all the other islanders, and for the generations to come. He wants to be able to hike the nearby hills again and see the beautiful views of his youth once more, to see the ocean, feel the breeze, and watch the ships come in. And eventually, to transform waste on a global scale and create a worldwide network. To empower communities and give them economic opportunities. It might be a big dream, but that is what keeps him going
The lesson that Matthew would like to share with people who have that same itch: ‘If you are passionate about something, you have to go for it. It doesn’t matter how long it takes. You must pursue it. Otherwise, you will always wonder ‘what if?’. Take that leap, whether you succeed or not. You will have a newfound respect for yourself, realising how determined and capable you are. And it will grow your confidence beyond anything else that a lecture or a course could ever teach you.’
