Disaster waste on island territory: management forced by proximities

The consequences of a natural disaster on the waste management network and its functioning have been little analyzed for small island territories. The literature shows the importance of territorial solidarity in post-disaster waste management through exchanges of flows between impacted and non-impacted territories. However, island territories have the particularity of being less connected to treatment infrastructures located in other territories. The issue of territorial scale and proximity in the management of waste flows is thus highlighted in this insular context. Based on the case of the island of Saint-Martin after Hurricane Irma (2017), it will be shown that different registers of proximity, including spatial, political-administrative and relational proximities, offer a perspective of analysis and understanding of the waste management service in the post-disaster period. Thus, for example, the physical and institutional distance of Saint-Martin from Guadeloupe (on which it still depends in part institutionally) and the French mainland were aggravating factors in the crisis. Conversely, the relational proximity between public and private stakeholders on the island, outside the waste field, played an important role in restructuring the network.