NSWMA bolstered with 50 new garbage trucks

 

Communities across Jamaica should see an improvement in the collection of solid waste, beginning next week.

 

There have been howls of complaints from across the island about uncollected garbage and the implications for public health and disease outbreaks.

 

Executive Director of the National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA), Audley Gordon, says the issues over the last several months resulted from an insufficient number of units. 

 

But he says 50 new garbage trucks acquired by the government have now arrived in the country, and should be put into service by next week to clear the piles of rubbish across the island.

 

"They are cleared. They are being cleaned by the dealer as we speak and will be handed over early next week. Once they are handed over, they will be in the communities and we will begin the process now of trying to pay back some of the debt that we have incurred with the people," Mr. Gordon told Radio Jamaica News. 

 

He said the NSWMA had initially been promised 100 trucks but those plans were shifted due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

 

While the 50 new trucks will not "solve our problems totally", Mr. Gordon noted, they will allow the entity to more efficiently clear garbage and "cut the complaints down significantly".