By Dennie Quill, ContributorRECENT UTTERANCES by the chairman of the Solid Waste Management Authority have served to put the spotlight back on the issue of garbage collection and disposal. Admittedly, the Authority has a tough task on its hands because a garbage mentality abounds in Jamaica and litterbugs feel no remorse for thrashing the environment in which they live and which their children will inherit.
Recently I saw a man throwing rubbish from his car and I honked at him a couple of times and his response was to spear me with a wounded glare right before he spat a few Jamaican expletives. It is a fact that litterbugs have bad manners and poor attitudes and they usually show scant respect for others.
Uptown, downtown and across town, neighbourhoods are being thrashed by people who are either too ignorant or uncaring to recognise that their actions will have far-reaching impact.
ENVIRONMENTAL
DEGRADATION
Environmental degradation does not simply apply to domestic discards, it is also evident in the piles of building material, garden debris, rusting motor vehicles, discarded mattress, stoves, fridges and dilapidated buildings which we see everywhere.
Take a casual drive into any neighbourhood in the Kingston and St. Andrew metropolitan area and I submit that if you had dollars for every example of garbage pollution you would become an instant millionaire. It is that bad.
Frustration has reached boiling point for some persons who attempt to keep their space clean and attractive only to be confronted by overgrown weeds, sodden mattresses and other rubbish put out by their neighbours.
But the monstrosity that gets my ire up every time is the one at the corners of St. Lucia Avenue and Trinidad Terrace on prime real estate in the country's commercial hub of New Kingston. This multi-story building represents someone's dream gone sour and it has been allowed to exist as a haven for vagrants and an eyesore. I recall that this building was the subject of litigation many years ago. Isn't it full time for the KSAC to do something about it?
CHOCKED-UP STREETS
The structure seems pretty sturdy so Mayor Desmond McKenzie may want to initiate action to either have it demolished or put it into use a car park for New Kingston's chocked-up streets may be an idea. A common sense approach needs to be taken here. Public action may also bear positively on public attitude toward litter. After all throwing garbage into a decayed shell of a building may not look as bad as emptying rubbish into a crisp, new structure.
Food-safety issues cannot be overlooked in this debate. When we combine naturally occurring bacteria with poor sanitation practices, the risk of food-borne illnesses is magnified.
The daring coney-sized rats in New Kingston are an indication of the kinds of risks one is exposed to. And one also has to consider the growing band of itinerant food vendors who have no visible signs of sanitary facilities and leaves one to conjure up frightening pictures in one's mind. Then there are the markets - oh the stench in some of them. I can understand why more and more of my friends are feeling ill at ease at the thought of eating outside of their homes.
Remember the sanitary inspector of old? The last time I checked there were fewer of them and the School of Public Health was in danger of being closed because they were not attracting enough candidates. The fact is the entry requirements are very high and a graduate is paid peanuts after spending three years studying. I haven't heard about any change there. This means there are fewer inspectors to go the rounds and conduct the kinds of public health audits that would make us feel safe.
It is pretty clear that we need nothing less than a revolution in the attitudes of people and officials toward waste production and disposal.
Yes, we have laws that aim to punish environmental criminals. Perhaps we even have environmental wardens - their last foray I can remember was to snatch illegal sand miners, since then their silence has been deafening! I would be very interested to know how many persons were prosecuted and fined under the Anti-Litter Act in 2002. And how much were they fined? Have there been fines levelled against businesses for improper disposal of garbage?
PUNITIVE FINES
I am interested in these answers because we are extremely good at making laws but we fail miserably when it comes to implementing them. I hear the threats of punitive fines by the Solid Waste Management Authority. But if we couldn't do it under the Anti-Litter Act how are we going to get the desired results under the Solid Waste Act?
I agree that public prosecution should be vigorously pursued against litterbugs. The fine collected from such offenders is the only thing that will sweeten the stench that their inconsiderate actions leave behind.
But wait, there is something else. How about judges taking a common sense approach to this intractable problem by sentencing offenders to community service? Yes, offenders would be put to work and you may have guessed it picking up litter. They can be given tools of the trade like masks and gloves. I guarantee that the good to be done by such punishment would far outweigh the humiliation suffered by these waste criminals.
To take the point further third offenders could be given a little flogging a la Singapore style maybe not, the human rights lobby would not approve.
Dennie Quill is a veteran journalist who can be reached at DennieQuill@hotmail.com.
