MONTEGO BAY, Jamaica (JIS) — Executive Director of the National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA), Audley Gordon, said that land has been acquired in George’s Plain, Westmoreland for the establishment of a transfer station to serve the parish.

“We have secured lands… and we have started the process, already, of trying to raise the funds to build the transfer station. We are hoping that we can do it this year, but certainly by the end of the financial year,” he said.

He was addressing a Town Hall Meeting at the Negril Community Centre on Thursday (March 2).

Transfer stations are convenient hubs for the deposit of waste, which is then consolidated and transferred to large, long-distance trucks for delivery to disposal facilities.

These stations help reduce the cost of transporting waste to distant disposal facilities, directly benefiting the municipal budget.

Gordon said the transfer station will enable the agency to operate more efficiently, keeping to its twice-per-week collection schedule as required by world health standards.

Meanwhile, he informed that as part of efforts to keep Negril clean, the Tourism Product Development Company Limited, (TPDCo) has donated 90 garbage bins to the NSWMA, which will be strategically deployed across the resort town within the next three weeks.

As it relates to the rest of the island, the NSWMA Executive Director informed that the entity has purchased 17 new trucks, six of which are already in the island and the other 11 scheduled to arrive in July.  Every parish and resort town will receive at least one new unit.

Gordon said employees will receive new uniforms and will undergo customer-service training in an effort to improve their morale as well as enhance the relationship with citizens.