WESTERN BUREAU:
THE 31-MILE trek from Savanna-la-Mar to Montego Bay's Retirement dump is proving too difficult for garbage collectors in Westmoreland. This has resulted in a pileup of garbage in that parish.
"Retirement is quite a distance away, and sometimes the trucks can only make one trip per day," said Mayor of Savanna La Mar, Councillor Ralph Anglin. "The shortage of garbage compactors has seriously affected garbage collection in the parish."
Since the closure of the Mount Eagle dumpsite four months ago, garbage generated in the parish has had to be transported to the regional dumpsite at Retirement in St. James.
The Westmoreland Parish Council is seeking the assistance from the Ministry of Local Government and Works in procuring two additional garbage compactors to deal with the problem.
Checks with communities such as Amity, Hartford, Petersfield and Shrewsbury in Westmoreland reveal that garbage was collected earlier this week, after a three-week pileup.
Mr. Anglin anticipates that the problem of garbage collection would continue to be troublesome, until additional equipment was made available.
The Mayor was also concerned that some garbage contractors may be dumping the garbage in areas other than the prescribed dumpsite at Retirement. "It is likely that the contractors have not been given an increase in their salary to travel all the way to Retirement to dump the garbage. Sometimes they just dump the garbage along the way."
Attempts to get a response from general manager of Western Parks and Markets (WPM), Cleveland Miller, were unsuccessful, as he was said to be in a meeting.
The council is responding to a formal request from WPM for additional trucks to be made available to deal with the high volume of garbage. In a letter to the council, the WPM manager said there was a backlog of uncollected garbage because the present number of trucks could not cope with the volume of garbage to be transported to Retirement in St. James.
