THE NATIONAL Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA) has identified land at Hyde Hall in Trelawny to establish a transfer station that is expected to create a more efficient system to collect waste.
Dramaine Jones, acting regional operations manager at Western Parks and Markets (WPM) Waste Management Limited, declined to speak on the matter when contacted, but a source close to the development gave a confirmation.
“Yes, I can confirm that we have identified land for our transfer station,” the source said.
The transfer station is a warehouse-style facility where the waste will be emptied from the smaller units to a tipping floor, which will be loaded into a larger compactor unit. The collected waste will then be transferred to the landfill at night.
That means that trucks will not have to transport waste from communities in Trelawny to the Retirement dump in St James.
“A transfer station is done to improve efficiency, “ the source said. “You will have more frequency in waste collection and better service.”
However, Jones acknowledged reports that waste collection has been affected by a shortage of drivers and sanitation officers (sidemen), but declined to comment on reports that employees are refusing to work in some communities due to instances of violence or threats on their lives.
“I am looking for drivers and sanitation officers, we have a real shortage in that area, so any driver with a general open driver’s licence can apply,” he said. “If I had that I could run night shifts in areas like Coral Gardens, the Hip Strip, and the downtown commercial area.”
A former sanitation officer confirmed that there are security concerns and the police have had to be providing security on occasion.
“You doing your work and the man dem a tell you what they can do to you or threaten you if you take up some old junk, so I cut (leave),” he said.
The Government has moved to reform the waste management programme to manage the approximately 1.5 million tonnes of residential and commercial waste generated annually, with the implementation of waste-to-energy technology, and the establishment of sanitary landfills.
Richard Munroe, manager of the PPP & Privatisation Division at the Development Bank of Jamaica which is overseeing the initiative, could not be reached for an update, and efforts to contact Lyttleton Shirley, chairman of the enterprise team, were unsuccessful.
At the start of the year, approximately 25 mainly international firms expressed interest in participating in the bidding process to manage the solid waste initiative.