THE National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA) is considering licensing organisations like the Jamaica Agricultural Society (JAS), to deal with illegal dumping in certain areas.

“We can’t employ enough people to do that, and you are there and you are aware of what is happening,” NSWMA executive director Joan Gordon Webley told Corporate Area farmers attending the Kingston and St Andrew JAS Branch Society Leaders’ Forum at the JAS head office, Church Street Saturday.

Gordon Webley was responding to complaints from the farmers of illegal dumping in areas of West and East Rural St Andrew where, according to the farmers, the activity has continued unabated for years.

She said that by licensing the farming association, its members would be able to monitor the situation and inform and serve notice on persons carrying out the act. She also warned them that they must be careful that asbestos is not contained in the illegally dumped debris, some of which comes from construction sites.

“Look, no one can police your community like you, and I believe in being an informer on anybody who comes into my community to defile it,” she said.

She stated that she was not happy with the NSWMA’s level of collection of garbage and intended to develop proper schedules with routes and times. However, she cautioned that the units could not access all areas of rural St Andrew.