Mayor concerned about garbage pile-up in Greater Portmore

 

Mayor of Portmore, Leon Thomas, has expressed concern about the lengthy delay in garbage collection in Greater Portmore, which he says has resulted in a pile-up in that section of the municipality. 

 

He raised the issue at the monthly meeting of the Portmore Municipal Corporation on Wednesday. 

 

Mayor Thomas says, even with new trucks acquired by the National Solid Waste Management Authority, there has been no improvement in garbage collection in sections of Portmore. 

 

Two East... up to Six West, they are not getting collection on time, and it's causing a severe problem within all those communities. The people don't know when the truck is coming and the truck is taking might be about a two weeks before collection. And a lot of the garbage, with a heavy wind, it's all over the place, into some of the drains that are there," he lamented.  

 

He said residents have been complaining bitterly about the issue.

 

"I am wondering if there is a problem with the garbage trucks that suppose to go to that area to do collection. I know that we get 100 new trucks. We know that there are additional trucks from contractors, right? But we are seeing no improvement. We usually see when you just roll out and you [were], you know, showing off the pretty trucks and things. But everything just take a nose dive and it is in a terrible, terrible condition. There are other communities in Portmore that [are] also experience in similar problems," he noted. 

 

Andrew Gooden, NSWMA Sanitation Manager for St. Catherine, said the garbage pile-up in sections of Portmore is due to mechanical problems with some of the garbage trucks. 

 

He promised that garbage collection will be back on schedule within the next two weeks.