Letter of the Day | A novel idea for garbage collection

THE EDITOR, Sir:

What are people in Jamaica to do when their garbage is not picked up for weeks, even months at a time? I can tell you what the people of Old Harbour Bay do. They dispose of the trash themselves by burning it.

Paper, plastic, fish remains, and other disposable compounds of everyday life are set alight and the by-products are there for everyone to breathe. The health consequences are potentially catastrophic for all. What is to be done?

Without being 'tongue in cheek,' let me suggest a solution so basic it's laughable, and a thought so elementary it should not have to be articulated. My solution is that the St Catherine Municipal Corporation might provide basic garbage-collection services for the people of Old Harbour Bay and others whose taxes pay for such services. An eloquent response here might be "Duh!" But until such services are provided the proposal stands.

According to one resident of Bay Bottom, in Old Harbour Bay, "Garbage is picked up here every other leap year". Surely it's not too much to ask for service that is a bit more frequent.

Here is my elementary thought. What if we attempt to provide as part of the routine of daily life, the basic services necessary for a functional society as part of the overall effort to build a new more prosperous Jamaica, with clean water, clean air, and healthy people?

Dexter Gordon