Garbage pile-up ‘a big problem’
KSAMC signs contract for rubbish removal; launches sting operation to identify companies dumping waste illegally
Published:Thursday | January 11, 2024 | 12:09 AMAinsworth Morris/Staff Reporter
Although municipal corporations are not responsible for waste collection, the Kingston and St Andrew Municipal Corporation (KSAMC) has taken the bold step of signing a three-month contract with a company to help with waste-removal management in the capital city.
Delroy Williams, mayor of Kingston, made the announcement while speaking with the media on Tuesday following his monthly council meeting at his office in downtown Kingston.
He said the contract began mid-December last year but did not specify the company’s name or the amount paid out.
The main reason the KSAMC has contracted this waste collector is due to the fact that urban business operators are dumping their waste on the streets of the Corporate Area.
“Waste management is a major concern … . That’s a huge problem, the issue of garbage pile-up within the city space. A major contributor to that is the fact that there are business operators within the urban spaces who are dumping or disposing of their waste – their business waste, their commercial waste – on the streets. That is a big problem,” Williams said.
“That is something that we have to arrest, and part of arresting that is a sting operation, which we have been contemplating here – undercover persons to identify persons who are doing it,” he said.
Williams could not give the number of businesses identified as being in breach.
Some of the improperly disposed waste includes boxes from wholesales for shirts and haberdashery primarily in downtown Kingston areas such as Orange, Princess, and East Queen streets.
“The urban centre downtown is mostly commercial [waste],” Williams said
When asked how much it would cost the municipality, his response, without stating a figure, was that it was a fixed-sum contract.
“The trial is like we are doing it on a fixed-sum contract, so some of the difficulties we have had with respect to contracting trucks for waste disposal/removal is the number of loads can become a problem,” Williams said.
“There are conditions established within that contract that should benefit the city … . We are asking for two cycles; two per day and time is specified … and the areas are designated, which should ease the pile-up in the urban centres,” he said.
Williams said cameras are now being considered to be implemented to identify business owners who dump their waste on the streets of Kingston when they should pay for its removal.
“I believe as soon as we have gotten eyes in terms of our installation of cameras in these urban centres, then it will be far easier for us to identify the persons who are disposing of garbage illegally,” he said.
He said if the trial is impactful, the KSAMC will have dialogue with the Ministry of Local Government to see if they can continue the arrangements as temporary.
With regard to persons complaining that they see a lack of effort on the KSAMC’s part in enforcing stricter measures not only for improper waste disposal but developments going beyond what was approved, Williams said they issue notices “all around right throughout the year”.
“[We] stop developments, call in developers, speak to them, have them correct the breach … but these things are not published … . We do act, and we do take actions, and we do stop developments in breach, but in a lot of cases, the situation is remedied,” he said.