HUSTLERS at Jamaica’s largest municipal dump site at Riverton City in Kingston, as well as residents living nearby, are shrugging off concerns about the effects of the dump on their health, despite frequent fires and uncontrolled disposal of waste there.

The scores of men and women who eke out a living by rummaging through garbage at the sprawling facility, as well as families in homes close by, dismiss the view that exposure to the refuse could make them sick in the long run.

“We used to this,” said ‘Baddas’, a burly 23-year-old man. “No man no sick a Riverton yet. You will come yah one time and sick, and we deh yah every day and nutten no do we.”

As garbage trucks from the National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA) made their way up the bumpy, dusty track and tipped their loads, scavengers — or hustlers as they prefer to be called — gathered around, sorting through the rubbish and retrieving items of value, including scrap metal, glass and plastic containers, parts from electrical appliances and computers, and food items said to be used for feeding animals.

Dozens of cows and goats roam the dump, while a row of pig pens line the Duhaney River, which runs before the entrance to the facility.

One young boy was seen washing what appeared to be chicken parts in the river and putting them in a plastic bag.

“Oi oi! Nuh tek we picture man! Mi we sue ooono!” yelled one man, fishing in a murky stream under a bridge leading into the dump.

Others reacted angrily on seeing the Environment Watch photographer.

“Mi nuh want mi son frien’ dem and mi church sister dem see me inna di paper,” said 30-year-old ‘Rosie’, a mother of five.

She was packing plastic bottles of all kinds into huge fertiliser bags for sale at a rate of $7 per pound.

Queries about the possible health risk of working and raising animals in such a smelly environment were greeted with scepticism.

“Nutten no wrong wid wi hog, we goat [or] wi cow dem,” Rosie said with a chuckle.

She recalled how animals raised at the dump were slaughtered for an event last Christmas at which NSWMA officials were present.

“Dem seh a de sweetest pork dem ever eat. Dem eat goat, dem eat everything,” added 31-year-old Tony.

Asked about the quality of the fish in the stream, Tony replied “Wha happen to de water? The water have in some tings, but a wha you think fish eat?”

Like the other hustlers, Tony is focused on making a living and not on any long-term effects of being

at Riverton.

“You have elders here a hustle all 30 years and mi nuh see nutten wrong wid dem,” he said

A massive fire raged at the dump for several days earlier this month, blanketing most of Kingston with smoke and forcing authorities to close schools and businesses in the area.

The blaze ignited debate about the management of the country’s solid waste, as the governing People’s National Party (PNP) and Opposition Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) blamed each other for the state of the dump.

One report put the cost of putting out the fire at approximately $60 million.

JLP spokesman on local government, Desmond McKenzie called for an investigation into how the fire affected residents, and said he would co-operate with the Public Defender in seeking compensation for them.

However, some residents do not seem concerned about the possible health risk.

“Nutten nuh do wi. Wi a’right!” one woman snapped on being asked about the health of the residents.

She quickly went back to playing a game of bingo with a group of men and other women at a tiny shop.