Diverse fleet to boost garbage collection – Gordon

WESTERN BUREAU:

WITH APPROXIMATELY 50 new garbage trucks expected on the island by late June, executive director of the National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA), Audley Gordon, is predicting that residents will benefit from improved garbage collection.

Gordon said that this belief stems from the “diverse fleet of trucks” that will not only help to boost their waste removal efforts, but improve the offerings of the agency.

In late 2022, NSWMA had welcomed 50 new garbage trucks. It was also reported then that another 50 would follow as the government aims to bolster the operations of the agency. This acquisition was priced at approximately $916 million.

While speaking to reporters on April 12, during an Operation SWEEP exercise in St James, Gordon shared that 10 of the new trucks have already been brought into the country. He pointed out that the 10 vehicles, which are tipper trucks, are expected to assist in the clearing of mini dumps across the country.

“The new trucks are beginning to arrive. As a matter of fact, the 10 tipper trucks are already in the island, and this is in keeping with the government’s commitment of 100 new trucks. We have gotten 50 already and the other 50 have begun to arrive,” Gordon explained.

“The first batch of that 50 is the 10 tipper trucks. Please note that the 10 tipper trucks will help us with the bulky waste and those mini dumps that we have popping up all over the place.”

Additionally, Gordon stated that with four new crane trucks among the expected fleet, the agency should be able to pull its weight and better handle the issue surrounding derelict vehicles.

“Also, in the batch coming will be four brand new crane trucks. You know that the crane trucks are very important as we do contend with a lot of derelict vehicles, and they are blocking up some of the driveway in some communities.”

The solid waste authority currently has four crane trucks in its current fleet. However, Gordon pointed out that they are old and unable to effectively carry out the agency’s duties.

“Of the four, only one is working and it is working at great cost to the taxpayers. We have to be fixing it more than we can drive it, so we are going to get four brand new crane trucks.”

At the same time, the executive director said that NSWMA will also receive eight new garbage scouts in addition to the regular-sized trucks.

“Those are the very small compactors that can navigate some of the narrower spaces that we have to contend with,” Gordon said, while explaining what a scout is.

Meanwhile, the executive director told reporters that he is pleased with the types of units expected in this additional batch as they will help to “diversify the offerings”, while allowing NSWMA to “be a more effective company”.

“The cranes weren’t in the first batch; the tippers weren’t in the first batch and the scouts weren’t in the first batch.”

While responding to queries regarding the impacts of the 50 trucks received by the agency in late 2022, Gordon said that great improvements have been made in the response time as NSWMA’s fleet was brought to 99 trucks.

“If we didn’t get those 50 trucks, we would have been dead in the water because the fleet of the NSWMA was always ageing.”

“When I got to the NSWMA in 2016, we had a very aged fleet. We have added steadily to that fleet [to] now 99 new trucks.”

With the 50 new trucks taking that total to 149, Gordon said that the agency is receiving a major boost.

“It is important to make that point because the NSWMA is a large trucking company. If we don’t have [at least] 100 trucks daily on the road, we are dead in the water. By the end of this June, we will have at the agency a decent fleet of trucks that can provide the service that the public deserves,” said Gordon.

“All the units will be on the island by early June. We have a batch coming in early May, another batch in late May and I think the last batch will be early June. This is not a promise. This is something that has been committed and it is being delivered as we speak.”