NSWMA promises improved garbage collection in coming weeks

 

Amid growing complaints from residents in the Corporate Area and Portmore, St. Catherine about uncollected garbage, the National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA) is promising improved service within the next "two to three weeks". 

 

Mayor of Kingston, Andrew Swaby, reported on Tuesday that he has written to the NSWMA regarding the lack of garbage collection across several communities in municipality. 

 

Mayor of Portmore, Leon Thomas, has also filed a similar complaint. 

 

Speaking with Radio Jamaica News on Thursday afternoon, NSWMA Executive Director Audley Gordon admitted that the agency has not been operating at full capacity. He explained that a large portion of the workforce was pulled from street operations last month to participate in a major customer

service training programme. 

 

"Because of the size of MPM, we had to split it in five. So we operated for one week with 80% of the capacity because we had to pull out each day 20% to take them in for training. It is a very good thing. It's something that's very necessary, but it also comes with some pains, because we have to then contend with the fall-off that naturally come when you're not operating at full strength," he admitted, noting that this has caused a backlog across St. Catherine, Kingston and St. Andrew and St. Thomas.

 

Mr. Gordon said now that the training exercise is over, there should be improvement in garbage collection in the coming weeks.

 

"There are areas where we are doing better, especially in the areas where we properly containerize our garbage and where we have the population density is not so high. But we do have some challenges which we are working on. And I'm not saying that the week of training is exclusively responsible for it, but it is a major contributor to where we are now. But if you give us another two to three weeks, we should see things turn around," he promised.