Garbage fight

Feb 25, 2024

PORUS, Manchester —Acting regional manager for Southern Parks and Markets (SPM) waste management Sheldon Smith says the poor containerisation of garbage and illegal dumping here is a pain point, even as residents are blaming SPM for the issue following the removal of a skip.

"That is absolute garbage. Old Porus road is a headache area for us, with people dumping illegally along that main road. I have sent the tipper truck there on numerous occasions. Up to three weeks ago I was down there trying to clean the dump along the Old Porus Road," Smith told the Jamaica Observer on Friday.

His comments follow complaints from residents on the Old Porus Road who told the Sunday Observer that there has been a pile-up of garbage for over a month in their community.

There are numerous districts with narrow roads adjoining the Old Porus area where residents relied on a garbage skip to dump their waste. However, the skip was removed, causing contention, the residents have said.

Reverend Charles Danvers, a resident of Old Porus Road, expressed concern over rodents and stray dogs becoming a menace with the pile-up of garbage.

"It is terrible. It is about five weeks or so that they have not collected garbage around here. The councillor has been trying to get something done and nothing seems to be happening. One week or two weeks is not so bad, but four, five weeks is terrible. There used to be a skip behind where the market is, and they have removed the skip and put up a sign to say no dumping. There is nowhere for people to put the garbage and they are not collecting the garbage around here," he said.

"They ask people to containerise the garbage; you do that, but they are not coming to collect it. Some of the piles of garbage, dogs and rats are on to them now," added Rev Danvers.

Another resident who identified himself as "Lion" questioned the rationale of moving the garbage skip.

"Garbage terrible. Two, three, four week, five weeks. Right now it's been a month and the garbage nuh tek up, that nuh look good. How we ago survive, it needs to be done better. We need a whole heap of garbage trucks right round the country. There is no garbage skip. You don't have anywhere to put the garbage. If you put it down there, they are going to give you a ticket. They put up no dumping sign and yet no place for the garbage, so weh we fi do?" he asked.

Smith challenged the claims of the residents as he stressed the impact of poor containerisation practices.

"The problem we have in Jamaica… is that the citizens are not properly containerising their waste. They are not putting it in a drum and putting it at their gate. They expect to throw the waste anywhere at all and expect our workers to go in the dump and pick it up, and that is causing a big problem," he said.

"The Porus area takes us days sometimes to clean it because of the work we have to do on the road, because the people are not bagging the waste. What they are doing nowadays, I have watched it, they come with feeding bags and they empty it out and it has become a headache," added Smith.

He pointed to efforts to improve garbage collection.

"We are also trying for the past two to three years to extend our collection areas that are not presently on the collection schedule and quite a few areas in Porus aren't really on the schedule, but we try to go there at least twice or maybe twice a month," he said.

Smith is urging residents to containerise their garbage in drums placed at their gates for collection.

"The other thing about it, we will be in the area and you will have persons who are not at home, which is another problem we face. Sometimes when people tell you three months, two months [of garbage uncollected]. We go in the area, but they have the garbage at the back of the house. When our trucks come in the area they are not at home and when they are not at home now, they say the truck didn't come and the truck did come," he said.

"We could do some night shifts too and when we [do that], because it [garbage] is at your gate, you don't have to worry, it is at your gate so we just move through," added Smith.

He said people should take garbage disposal seriously.

"We have a culture in this country to keep our waste at the back of the house, and we say to people buy a drum, and they say, 'Lord, we keep water in our drum.' The garbage disposal is just as important as your water," said Smith.

"If you just use one of the drums and put it at your gate, we can pick it up anytime because, let me confess, sometimes our schedules are not on time or on the date. We might say we are coming on Monday, but we don't get to come until Wednesday," he said.

Smith said a garbage truck was expected to clear the uncollected waste late Friday, but up to midday of Saturday residents said the pile-up was still in the area.

Smith added that narrow roads pose a challenge for the recently acquired garbage trucks.

"We bought some new units and those areas like Porus, the bigger units are not able to manoeuvre the road very well, so we have to be using the older, smaller units to go in some of these areas," he explained.

"We have ordered new units and some smaller units called scouts are being ordered, so that problem should be totally alleviated when our new units come later this year," he added.

Councillor Claudia Morant-Baker (Jamaica Labour Party, Porus Division) is calling for an urgent solution to waste disposal and collection.

"What happened in the Old Porus area is that the skip is no longer there and there is a no dumping sign there. There is no solution for the garbage in the Old Porus area. I have requested [for a solution] over and over, but I don't see it," she said.

"We need to find an ideal location for a skip," she added.

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