St James Health Department to tackle ‘migrating’ waste, says Wallace

WESTERN BUREAU:

Lennox Wallace, the parish manager for the St James Health Department, says discussions are now being held to address the ongoing issue of persons, including individuals from outside the parish, transporting their garbage to overloaded dump sites there.

In an interview with The Gleaner on Wednesday, Wallace revealed that the health department has removed 365 truckloads of bulky waste since it began its $50-million integrated vector control programme on December 29. That programme was launched in response to complaints of uncollected waste across St James before and after the passage of Hurricane Melissa last October.

“The issue of travelling waste is not just a concern in the Dumfries and Canaan area, but it is also a concern in Norwood, and even in Mt Salem along Vernon’s Drive,” said Wallace. “You have persons from Trelawny who will carry their waste and leave it at Norwood, and residents of other areas will take their waste to Vernon’s Drive. Where you have infrequent collection, those persons are going to take their waste to an area where they know there is more frequent collection.

BIGGER SPACE

“What we are proposing to do is to build a bigger holding area for garbage, because these persons are not going to come out of their cars to throw away the garbage, so they throw it out and it ends up on the roadway.

“It is a discussion that we are having now with the National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA) and with each councillor, to create a bigger space so that the holding area does its work, and it does not become an area where dogs can enter and you have a rodent control problem in that area.”

During the St James Municipal Corporation’s (StJMC) monthly meeting on February 12, councillors called for education initiatives to teach residents how to better manage and dispose of their household waste. At that time, it was disclosed that some residents in the Somerton Division have been disposing of their garbage in neighbouring Trelawny, while commercial garbage has increased in the Cornwall Courts area due to the number of businesses there.

INCONSISTENCY IN SOME AREAS

Wallace also told The Gleaner that while the St James Health Department’s waste collection initiative and town hall meetings have been met with success to date, some communities continue to be areas of concern due to inconsistent garbage collection and rodent infestation.

“In Farm Heights, you have infrequency of garbage collection, which has contributed to rodent sightings, and that community is an aged community, in that it is mostly older folks that are there. We have John’s Hall as well, Maroon Town, and other areas in the St James Southern constituency to include Mt Carey, where we are doing revisits,” said Wallace.

“Our last town hall meeting was in Maroon Town, on February 11, and we have completed the entire parish already, but we still have major towns in each constituency that have to be revisited because of the extent of rodent sightings there. We are going to continue to partner with the NSWMA to ensure that this is done,” added Wallace.

Before Hurricane Melissa, St James was plagued by a recurring rat infestation problem that was primarily blamed on the improper disposal of garbage and food refuse. This was despite several efforts by the StJMC and the health department to raise awareness of the problem and how to manage it.

christopher.thomas@gleanerjm.com