MONTEGO BAY, St James — If you live in St James and haven’t had your garbage collected in a while, you’re not alone. Seven of the 17 garbage trucks in the Western Parks and Market Waste Management Limited’s (WPM) fleet are down, at one point leaving a pile-up of garbage in 50 communities. In addition to St James, WMP, the regional arm of the State’s National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA), serves the parishes of Westmoreland, Hanover, and Trelawny.

“There was a backlog in 50 communities due to frequent breakdown of our units,” senior public cleansing inspector at WPM, Julian Robinson told Thursday’s monthly meeting of the St James Municipal Corporation. “As I speak today, I can say that this has been drastically reduced. We have 29 communities in backlog and we are still operating way below our expectation in terms of the number of units. Work is in place in having the units returned to service, and we expect… in another two weeks we will be back to near normalcy.”

A crane truck used to remove bulky waste and derelict vehicles is also out for repairs, the corporation was told.

Making the point that the Maroon Town Division, which he represents, is one of the areas affected by the backlog, Councillor Everes Coke (Jamaica Labour Party) pushed for a timeline for the issues facing WPM to be resolved.

“How soon will the backlog be removed, are there any plans to get new trucks, and how soon will they be available?” he asked.

Robinson replied, “I cannot speak to new trucks, but what I can tell you is that efforts are being made to have some of the units in the garage returned.”

Noting that the slow collection of garbage throughout the parish is leading to environmental concerns, Councillor Michael Troupe (People’s National Party, Granville Division) expressed concern that it could also harbour rats and provide breeding sites for mosquitoes.

“I see some rats in the town, they are racing cars… the cars have to stop when they see the size of the rats. They are fat! We need a state of emergency to deal with this [rodent infestation]. It is time for action now,” said Troupe.

Councillor Gregory Wint (Jamaica Labour Party, Welcome Hall Division) also raised concerns that residents would resort to burning their garbage when there are interruptions to the regular collection schedule.

“The smoke causes problems for people who have asthma and other health problems,” he complained.

Robinson assured the meeting that the agency is working hard to resolve the problems, and that promises were made by the local government minister to provide new trucks to the parish.

— Venesha Morris