A facility leased for the holding of e-waste should be ready for operation before year end, according to executive director of the National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA) Audley Gordon.

In an interview with JIS News, Gordon said: “The Government must have in place a facility that can be the go-to for those discarded items and we want to fill that gap.”

The property, located in St Catherine, is currently undergoing work to make it suitable for e-waste holding.

“We are doing actual retrofitting of that property. We have applied for the [environmental] permit for that property also to do e-waste over in Hill Run [and] to make it the official e-waste holding area for us,” added Gordon.

He explained that retrofitting would include fencing of the area and the installation of containers with office spaces and restrooms.

Overseeing the general process, Gordon said that he is confident that by October the facility should be “more than ready”.

Once in operation, people commuting in the general area of Hill Run can drop off their e-waste at the facility.

With Jamaica being a consumer market and an importer of electronic items, the NSWMA head said he anticipates the islandwide collection of e-waste to be “major” and has started the process of seeking international markets for local e-waste.

The NSWMA recently announced that Jamaicans can now take e-waste to any of its facilities islandwide, encouraging residents to no longer place discarded electronics among household waste.

Electronic products that are unwanted, not working, and nearing or at the end of their useful life are classified as e-waste. Discarded cellular phones are among the items being collected at the NSWMA regional facilities.