Dump dismay

Jamaica’s garbage watchdog and chief collection agency has pledged to probe the transformation of a Paddington Terrace open lot into a massive dump and has vowed to crack down on the widening scourge of construction-industry rogues who scatter waste across the city.

Executive director of the National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA), Audley Gordon, was unaware of the mounds of garbage being deposited at Paddington Terrace, but checks with his enforcement department confirmed that the practice there has been on its radar for some time.

NSWMA staff had unsuccesfully staked out the premises for offenders many times, Gordon told The Gleaner on Sunday. The NSWMA is seeking to enlist the help of the Public Health Department.

“This is the first time the matter has been brought to my attention. I will ensure an immediate investigation is done. Also, we’ll seek to identify the owner of said property as we pursue an early resolution,” he said.

The construction industry has been the leading light in the Jamaican economy, giving muscle to the recovery with sector growth of an estimated 18.3 per cent in the April to June quarter. But the pace of growth has spiralled other problems, such as where to dispose of soil, rocks, and dismantled buildings.

The Paddington property – once used as green space for community football – has now been converted into a dump of convenience.

Raymond Wright, a resident of the adjacent Sandy Park community, explained that the property has been used as an ad hoc spot for the storage of soil for the 47 years he has lived there.

“The people dem used to dump it up wid dirt and take if off back and carry it to other sites . … More time a truck man would say di boss send me to the land,” he said.

Three weeks ago, residents of the community banded together to collect money to clean up the site, which is a stone’s throw away from the Sandy Park settlement. However, Wright said that their efforts were unsuccessful given the sheer volume of garbage.

“We get tractor to come clean up all a dem garbage here and try push it. Wi did try to burn out some of it, but it nuh look proper. It don’t look proper at all,” he said.

However, Sandy Park residents are not blameless in the haphazard disposal of garbage, say residents in the more affluent environs of Paddington Terrace.

One resident who spoke to The Gleaner on condition of anonymity said that she has, on several occasions, had to call firefighters twice a week to extinguish garbage being burnt at the site.

Referencing the landfill serving the Jamaican capital, the resident described the scene as the embryonic stage of another Riverton Dump.

“When the stench gets too much for them, they may light it just to burn it out and then it gets out of control. In fact, the last fire covered the whole area in smoke and messed it up badly,” the resident told The Gleaner.

The expansion of dumping squeezed out community football with the boom in construction of town houses on neighbouring properties.

“When the construction drama started, people would dump the rubble first and then they started to do the garbage. People would drive from wherever and just drop off their garbage and then the people who lived there also did it because it became convenient,” the resident said.

Another resident from Sandy Park revealed that persons would come from communities as far as Jacks Hill to dump garbage at the site at night to avoid detection.

The householders have expressed frustration with the Kingston and St Andrew Municipal Corporation and the NSWMA for allowing the problem to fester.

Last week, Neville Wright, councillor for the Trench Town division, blamed the booming construction industry for the creation of illegal dumps in the vicinity of Maxfield Avenue.

Wright said he had grown impatient with the NSWMA’s failure at enforcement, and blamed uptowners building multistorey complexes for dumping construction material in the Trench Town and Whitfield divisions.

The NSWMA’s Gordon has confirmed that the trend is a cause for concern.

“We have had several complaints, not necessarily from that area, about construction debris being dumped. We have even fined persons who are caught in recent times,” Gordon said.

Section 45 of the National Solid Waste Management Act 2001 states that any person who disposes of solid waste in any area or in any manner not approved by the NSWMA is liable to a fine of up to $1 million, nine months in prison, or both.

david.salmon@gleanerjm.com