Lovelette Brooks, Special Projects Editor

Scrap metal is of value too. - Rudolph Brown/Chief Photographer

Overburdened garbage trucks roll into Riverton Meadows belching and puffing huge curls of smoke. At the Riverton City Municipal Dump where they are headed, they tip their load - a pile of waste consisting of scrap metal, glass bottles and clothing and discarded pieces of furniture. Over 500 tons of waste is deposited daily at the dump and residents have, over time, used the city's waste to sustain themselves.

Originally known as 'Dungle', Riverton City, was recently renamed Riverton Meadows when, through Operation PRIDE, some 245 housing solutions were provided. While these units have softened the community, Riverton Meadows is still largely a sprawling zinc-fenced ghetto surrounding the city's dump site.

The settlement mushroomed some 35 years ago when residents bulldozed, uprooted and forced to relocate from west Kingston, found a haven in this neglected swamp, located in Kingston's industrial belt.

A ghetto emerged around the dump site from which the settlement thrived.

Each day, scavengers - mainly men and children - would sort through mountains of garbage, salvaging and collecting all items that could be of value. Later, these were sorted and sold, the metals providing valuable raw material, sold to factories in the metal products business.

But these days, the residents of Riverton Meadows have shifted focus. Instead of depending solely on scavenging, a group of enterprising residents has established formalised businesses, where they can even now employ labour from within the community.

No guns nah bark

"New things a gawn fi we. right now, you see no guns nah bark and most a we nice," articulated a young man sitting on a stone outside a community shop, waiting for a truck to load some dirt which he would transport to the Duhaney River, which runs through the community.

Since the National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA) started work to retrain the river earlier this year, young men from the community have been employed to transport dirt to raise and compact the banks of the river.

"We buy the dirt from outside and sell it by the yard for between $500 and $600 per yard. one truck carry about 25 yards, so you know we can make serious money," says Jerry Dean - a father of 14 children with six baby mothers - who was born and raised in Riverton City.

"We no really visit the dump so often these days. we sell dirt, a dirt build we, and a dirt we living by," he said humorously, eliciting peals of laughter from his companions.

Further on into the community, a group of young men enjoying corn bread and cheese for lunch was similarly upbeat about life in Riverton Meadows. They all work for one entrepreneur who has been running a successful scrap metal business.

He lives in a board house shielded by a tower of corrugated metals and aluminium and sandwiched between two large trailers being loaded for the export market with recycled metal, copper, aluminium and brass.

Reluctant to give his name or share his success story, he hinted that his growing business had brought him some measure of independence, enabled the employment of over 50 community members, and helped to stabilise the community.

"These shipment of scrap metal is going all over the world. China is a big buyer, but the goods going all over. it is growing and what we export is in big demand," he said, indicating that most of whom he employed were previously unemployed.

"If this business mash up, a pure judgement down here," he warned.

"Is a blessing for us, and there is peace and connectivity in the community. when last you hear Riverton in the news for any wrong doing?" piped 'Boggie', who recently joined his two brothers in making metal handles for caskets.

Sorting scrap metal

"We get orders from funeral homes. the big established ones order in bulk, like 100 and 50 pairs and we sell a pair for between $800 and $900," he said.

Even the children hovering around the trailers seemed happy. They were not digging through mounds of garbage; they were cleaning and sorting scrap metal and were earning in the process.

"I work enough money to buy uniform and shoes for school," says 15-year-old Jason who attends John Mills Junior High. His shy friend Ricardo who attends Greenwich Town All-Age seemed equally pleased with his holiday earnings.

While many of the residents of Riverton City no longer depend solely on the dump for survival, persons as far away as St. Thomas and Old Harbour dominate the site.

"They come from all over, jump the trucks on their way to the dump and dig through refuse. When they come off the bus, they change into their 'work clothes' and enter the dump, then they get dressed in the evening, take the bus and go back home," says Junior Rowe, manager of the Riverton Early Childhood Centre and Training Complex.

He has been working in the community for over 30 years and is intimately involved with the residents.

Training centre

"Riverton Meadows is doing very well. A beacon in the community is the training centre which accommodates 130 early childhood students. We also have a skills-training centre, a clinic and an elderly care programme where hot meals are provided five days each week. Our centre is run through the St. Patrick's Foundation with help from Beger Paints, GraceKennedy, IGL and Capital Metal Products, among other corporate helpers," says Rowe.