WESTMORELAND, Jamaica— Western Parks and Markets, the regional arm of the National Solid Waste Management (NSWMA), yesterday commissioned five new garbage compactor trucks into service in western Jamaica. 

The trucks are a part of a fleet of 20 that were handed over to the NSWMA on July 23 by Prime Minister Andrew Holness during a ceremony at Jamaica House.

The vehicles, bring to 23, the number of compactor units in WPM’s fleet.

WPM has oversight for the parishes of Trelawny, St James, Hanover and Westmoreland.

Garnet Edmonson, regional operations manager for WPM, told OBSERVER ONLINE that the new units operated in the parishes of St James and Westmoreland yesterday, in an effort to clear the backlog of garbage in those parishes.

“With the new compactor units we are going to see a significant improvement in garbage collection,” Edmonson stressed.

“We will touch communities in a better way, the added units will see us moving the more aged units in the fleet from main duty to secondary duties resulting in more waste being removed.”

At the same time, he appealed to residents in the region to play an active role in the management of solid waste.

Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) councillor for the Petersfield Division George Wright, who along with other stakeholders were on hand to witness the trucks working in sections of Westmoreland, expressed gratitude for the new units. 

“The people of Westmoreland are very grateful for the trucks. What they do is it that they increase the fleet of trucks that we have, and we will see more garbage being collected, backlog will be a thing of the past,” he argued. 

Rosalee Wood