SOME residents in communities located off Maxfield Avenue in St Andrew are appealing for a more efficient system of garbage collection as they have been experiencing pile-ups over long periods.

Residents of Lincoln Avenue and Sunlight Street told the Jamaica Observer on Friday that some people have resorted to storing garbage in their yards. When some people become too frustrated with the situation, they dump their excess waste in a gully in the community. When the Sunday Observer visited the area, residents explained that many people used recent rains to disguise illegal dumping in the gully.

According to one woman on Lincoln Avenue, “Di people dem just throw it inna di gully. If di rain never fall, di whole a in deh woulda full a garbage. A tru di rain wash it weh. If you did come weh day you woulda see it.”

The female resident claimed that a garbage truck would pass and collect rubbish on Maxfield Avenue in the mornings but would neglect Lincoln Avenue and other parts of the community.

“Sometimes all months no rubbish truck nuh come enuh. Di people dem just throw it inna di gully,” she said, sharing that people sometimes burn garbage to deal with the pile-up.

On Sunlight Street residents complained that the pile-up sometimes harbours mosquitos.

“More while we affi sweep di road and clean di gully because too much mosquitos,” one resident told the Sunday Observer.

Another Sunlight Street resident questioned if voting to select political representatives made sense if the Government cannot get a grip on an essential service such as garbage collection.

“What dem want we vote for when we full up a mosquito and rubbish? We vote because we want to live alright. More time di garbage full a pampers and dog have it all bout a stink up di place. They need an organised system of garbage collection so it can pick up more regular.”

Less than 30 metres away from where the Sunlight Street resident stood, dogs were spotted rifling through scattered rubbish.

People’s National Party (PNP) Councillor, Maxfield Park division, Dennis Gordon told the Sunday Observer that he and other councillors have been experiencing garbage pile-ups in their divisions. Gordon recommended greater collaboration between the Kingston and St Andrew Municipal Corporation (KSAMC) and the National Solid Waste Management Authority to ensure proper scheduling of trucks and the on-time payment of fees to garbage collection contractors.

“It can’t be a shortage of trucks all the time. In my view the issue is a problem of scheduling and not paying people on time. We are in a crisis and I am not sure the powers that be have a handle on the situation. My issue is just like everybody else where, the garbage is not being collected and it is impacting people’s health. It is unsightly and unhealthy and it needs to be addressed expeditiously. The problem is right across the division. They are saying the people must not continue to put the garbage on the roadside, but where are they going to put it? They can’t put it in the gullies and drains.”

Another PNP councillor, Eugene Kelly of the Whitfield Town Division, admitted to having garbage pile-up in some communities but said the NSWMA usually responds quickly when called by him.

Officials of the NSWMA could not be reached for comment on the situation.

Since last year, a group of garbage contractors complained about going many months without pay for their services. In interviews with the Observer, they warned the public that if garbage begins to pile up, it is not because of an unavailability of trucks but because they cannot afford to maintain the trucks.