KINGSTON, Jamaica (JIS) — Some 165 people from 30 underserved communities across the island have been trained as environmental wardens, under the solid waste management initiative being implemented by the Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF).  

The environmental wardens have been gazetted under the National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA) Act and are responsible for enforcing environmental laws across the country, but particularly in their communities.

Speaking with JIS News, Systems Operation and Environment Manager at JSIF, Dr Milton Clarke, explained that the wardens will be primarily responsible for enforcing the NSWMA Act and regulations; educating the residents of their respective communities about sustainable waste management practices and solid waste laws; and coordinating and monitoring the daily cleaning-up of their surroundings.

Areas covered under the training programme were: waste management practices; proper handling, storage and disposal of waste; solid waste management laws and regulations; environmental pollution prevention; fire safety and emergency response; Ministry of Health guidelines; and disease prevention and management.

“The training was a multi-agency approach involving JSIF, NSWMA, Ministry of Health, Jamaica Fire Brigade, National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) and Dispute Resolution Foundation. It covered several areas and gave participants the opportunity to go out and practise what they have learnt, observe persons on the streets who may be littering and consider the best way to approach them,” Clarke outlined.

For her part, General Manager for Technical Services at JSIF, Loy Malcolm, said the training initiative will last for three years and affords community members the opportunity to be employed and learn various skills and techniques.

“These wardens are trained, engaged and employed on one-year contracts which are renewable based on performance. We set them on a development path by investing in them as wardens or anything else that they wish to be,” Malcolm told JIS News.

She added that these persons are also exposed to other training and development programmes offered by the Jamaican Foundation for Lifelong Learning and other entities.

“An important part of the process for these wardens is not only the signing of a contract for employment but also the opening of a bank account to facilitate and allow them to interact with the financial institutions which may present other possibilities,” the general manager pointed out.

The wardens will be required to take a leading role in the implementation of other JSIF solid waste management interventions, such as community recycling, composting and school environmental programmes.