The real garbage at Riverton

BY DIANA MCCAULAY

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

IN September 1999, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) signed a loan with the Government of Jamaica to improve conditions at the Riverton City dump and other dumpsites around the country, and to develop an action plan for a modern solid waste management programme for Jamaica.

The loan was for US$11.5 million, with the total cost of the project being US$16.5 million. The project was to be carried out over a four-year period. This was extended for three more years and the project was finally closed in January 2007.

Only US$3.82 million had been disbursed and the bank cancelled US$7.68 million. In the understated lingo of such institutions, the IDB observed in its final report that the implementation of the project was "very unsatisfactory" and failed to meet its "development objective".

The broad objectives were to upgrade Riverton and establish a proper legal and institutional regulatory system for solid waste. There was also to be the preparation of an islandwide programme for waste minimisation, collection and disposal. There were, then, a set of detailed objectives (too lengthy to outline them all), but for Riverton they included an environmental impact assessment and monitoring programme, lighting, road and bridge improvement, acquisition and maintenance of equipment, recommendations for the siting of regional landfills and transfer stations, and comprehensive legislation.

In December 2009, two years after the project had ended, the Jamaica Environment Trust (JET) was invited by the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ) to attend a stakeholder consultation to discuss a new Integrated Waste Management Strategy and Action Plan, prepared for the IDB by Environmental and Engineering Managers Ltd.

I sought and received a copy of the report beforehand, along with the IDB's 2007 completion report. Both reports contained the most appalling account of mismanagement, waste, incompetence and probably corruption, although the last word was never mentioned. I went to the meeting, waxed long and loud about the stupidity of walking down the same road again without a full investigation as to the reasons for these many failures, and wrote a three-page letter to the PIOJ detailing the deficiencies of the Strategy and Action Plan.

Apart from an acknowledgment, I got no further response. I now gather there is an updated Strategy and Action Plan, dated March 2010, but JET has not been favoured with a copy.

The IDB completion report stated that the following measures had been implemented:

* The promulgation of the National Solid Waste Management Act, and the establishment of the National Solid Waste Management Authority;

* Infrastructure improvement at Riverton — bridge, road, fence, gate, lighting, office and maintenance buildings, scale, tyre baler;

* Improvements to the operation and management of Riverton;

* Equipment acquired;

* Staff training executed;

* Regulations for tipping fees drafted;

* Closure plans for three dumpsites completed; and

* Public awareness plan initiated.

Two of the failings outlined in the IADB 2007 completion report were:

* Insufficient budget allocation by the GOJ; and

* Major scandal in 2005 at the NSWMA, due to non-compliance with GOJ audit requirements.

In 2009, the new Integrated Waste Management Strategy and Action Plan done by the IDB's consultant reported on the status of the closed IADB Project:

* Tipping fees and opening hours regulation were still not implemented;

* Most trained staff had left the NSWMA;

* The scale was inoperable, having been installed in an area prone to flooding;

* The Riverton site was "unfenced and unsecured";

* The access road was in poor condition;

* The bridge had a structural crack and was out of use;

* The tyre baler was not working;

* NSWMA was no longer providing information on fires, although they were said to be "numerous";

* Closure plans for other sites had not been implemented;

* There was no progress on transfer stations;

* Numerous policies on waste remained in draft;

* 90% of the new equipment was out of service; and

* Jamaican taxpayers are still paying back the loan with some US$2 million outstanding.

It is very difficult to get anyone to speak frankly about the NSWMA and the Riverton City dump. When I demanded explanations at the stakeholder meeting, one young man told me, "Ms McCaulay, no one is going to tell you anything; we are afraid for our jobs and our lives". But here are some open secrets about Riverton, reported to JET by people who insist on remaining anonymous:

* Management measures, such as daily cover, have more or less broken down;

* Trucks are diverted at gunpoint to areas around the landfill for removal of scrap metal and other recyclables, resulting in the extremely hazardous burning of tyres;

* The equipment on the dump is entirely inadequate;

* Some fires are spontaneous, but many are deliberately set simply for the work they generate — and it should not be inferred that this is confined to workers on the dump, who do not own heavy equipment, nor operate quarries to provide cover material.

The conditions at Riverton are unspeakable, all manner of waste is simply discarded, and is sorted by hand by Jamaicans, including children.

Everyone tells me there is no will to deal with Riverton. It's political, they say. A feeding tree, they add. And this is the real scandal — the complete abdication of responsibility for public health and the environment and the staggering lack of accountability at three different ministries — local government, environment and health — and their associated agencies. The Riverton story goes back further than 1999, but certainly since then no minister or ministry has acted with any seriousness to address the problems, although all three ministries have regulatory oversight. It remains to be seen whether there will be a new approach after the current crisis is over.

Diana McCaulay is the chief executive officer of the Jamaica Environment Trust.

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The real garbage at Riverton