- Rudolph Brown/Staff Photographer
There was a build-up of uncollected garbage in this market area on Darling Street in downtown Kingston, yesterday, as the garbage collection woes continued in the Kingston Metropolitan Region.
Claude Mills, Staff Reporter
OVERFLOWING SKIPS and uncollected bags of garbage were recurring sights throughout sections of the Kingston Metropolitan Region yesterday as the chronic shortage of independent garbage contractors to pick up domestic waste continued to plague communities.
In downtown Kingston, market vendors complained of "slow collections" while there were skips overflowing with garbage on Collie Smith Drive, leading to Arnett Gardens. In Greater Portmore, south St. Catherine, the streets of housing communities such as 6 West, 7 West and 8 West were lined with overflowing refuse containers and garbage bags placed high on walls to prevent animals from rummaging through them.
"Is almost two weeks now I don't see a garbage truck, and it is very frustrating. What are they waiting on? For the flies to attack us over here? People have even been burning their garbage, and last week, we had to call the fire brigade to put out a fire that blazed out of control," Karen Beecher, a resident of 8 West, told The Gleaner.
A similar situation existed at the nearby Belmont Park Primary School where Edna Hibbert, the principal, said that "garbage had not been collected since September 1."
"We are managing the situation by burning the garbage, but right now, the skip we have is almost full. I hope something is being done soon," she said.
Alston Stewart, chairman of the National Solid Waste Manage-ment Authority (NSWMA), sought to reassure the public that garbage collection would soon return to normal.
"Eleven trucks returned to service today. We had cleared 28 contractors to return, and we're processing those applications right now," Mr. Stewart told The Gleaner.
He said that "Kingston is returning to normal, and we can expect an improvement because next week an additional five trucks will go into service in the Riverton City wasteshed as soon as the drivers and mechanics finish their period of training."
He said that "housing schemes such as 6 West, 7 West and 8 West will be finished tonight."
In the interim, disgruntled independent contractors in the Riverton Meadows area of the landfill, complained bitterly of the action taken by Mr. Stewart, the NSWMA head.
"Garbage ah build up all over the place, and the man just suspend we just so, and yet still they haven't paid us for the four months that they owe us. Even the man dem in di scalehouse dem suspend," an irate truck driver said.
The scalehouse is used to weigh trucks laden with garbage and is an integral part of the NSWMA's billing system. However, in late August, the contracts of 95 independent crews of the supplementary fleet (comprising 50 trucks) were suspended while the NSWMA notified police and requested a full-scale investigation of "suspicions of fraud involving its billing system used for work done".
"We will be making a public statement when the investigations are complete, and we will wrap that up in 14 days hopefully," Mr. Stewart said. Also, he responded to allegations that the independent contractors were owed as much as four months' pay.
"We owe them for only one month, but we can't pay them until we find out if they robbed us or not," Mr. Stewart said. "As soon as everyone gets cleared, they will get their cheques in the next pay cycle. However, anyone in breach of our rules will not return to the system, and any employee involved will be dismissed."
