By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Bahamas Waste is “looking at all the options” for its two recycling ventures that lost a combined $329,000 in 2014, warning that it could not continue “great environmental initiatives” with losses of such magnitude.

Francisco de Cardenas, the BISX-listed waste services firm’s managing director, told Tribune Business that it would take “a real close look” at both its waste cardboard and vegetable oil (biodiesel) recycling initiatives in early 2015.

Bahamas Waste sustained a $170,353 loss on its cardboard recycling activities during the 12 months to end-2014, a sum that was down slightly from the $178,701 incurred in 2013.

As for biodiesel, while losses were down almost 45 per cent from the previous year’s $286,836, some $158,572 of ‘red ink’ was still incurred.

With neither ‘green’ initiative yet to turn a profit for Bahamas Waste, their collective losses continue to drag the company’s total annual net income below the $1 million mark. The company’s profits for 2014, $762,746, were relatively flat compared to the previous year’s $749,442.

Describing the cardboard recycling as “still a struggle”, Mr de Cardenas told Tribune Business: “We’re going to take a real close look at that over the next few months....

“There’s a difference between environmental initiatives that we think are really useful, but we can’t be losing significant amounts of money on them.”

Bahamas Waste exported one recycled cardboard shipment within the last fortnight, he added, but “we need to be sending out a lot more”.

Mr de Cardenas added that the BISX-listed firm was targeting one recycled cardboard shipment for export per month, a target it was moving closer to.

On the biodiesel side, he conceded that the drop in global oil/fuel prices had created “a concern” because it narrowed the price spread between the two products.

“We’re still producing it,” Mr de Cardenas told Tribune Business of biodiesel. “It’s still costing us. We can’t get production costs down to where we need them.”

Emphasising that Bahamas Waste was examining every aspect of its business model to ensure it delivered acceptable returns and shareholder value, he added: “We have to look at every segment of our business, and look at all our costs and reduce them where we can.

“When we look at sectors not making money, we have to look at all the options we have. We’re talking to a lot of people and getting positive feedback.

“I think they’re [cardboard and biodiesel] both great initiatives,” Mr de Cardenas continued, and all responsible customers, hotels and restaurants are appreciative of what we’re doing. It’s a good thing all around.

“But at the end of the day, we have to make money. That’s what the shareholders of Bahamas Waste expect.”

Expressing hope that the Bahamian economy would revive and improve Bahamas Waste’s prospects, Mr de Cardenas said one aspect of its business that was performing well was medical waste disposal.

“The Minister [of Health] wants to talk to us about dealing with the Family Islands, too, so that’s positive,” he added.

Bahamas Waste continues to be driven by its residential and commercial waste garbage collection business, and its 2014 results benefited from providing these services and portable restrooms to “two major construction projects”.

“The portion that we have is going great,” Mr de Cardenas said of residential collections. “Everyone knows that if there is an issue we fix it immediately.

“I think that if you were to ask most of our customers, they’re extremely happy about the whole thing. We have little glitches like everyone else but, when we find out about them, we resolve them quickly.”

Mr de Cardenas described the company’s 2014 performance as “acceptable”, with Bahamas Waste heavily focused on controlling its costs.

Yet he expressed concern that Value-Added Tax’s (VAT) implementation was already impacting the ability of commercial customers to pay their waste collection bills on time, impacting Bahamas Waste’s accounts receivables.

These stood at $2.196 million at year-end 2014, and Mr de Cardenas said: “I just think a lot of people are hurting. We have to wait and see, but the cost of living has gone up, and it’s hurt the little guy trying to make it.

“I think we have more of an issue with our receivables than anything else. Money is harder to come by. I think we’ve seen a little bit of an impact.”