National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA) Executive Director, Audley Gordon says collection challenges being faced by the NSWMA in rural communities underscore the need for the completion of work being done by an enterprise team set up to handle the divestment of the entity.

He cited the distance that trucks must travel to dump sites in rural areas as a major factor behind the collection problem.

“We have a challenge in the way our disposal sites are distributed across the island. When I collect from Negril or in Sav, I have to carry that garbage all the way to Retirement (dump) in St James…when you throw into the equation the shortage of trucks and you have one truck tied up for two hours transporting garbage, factor also the two hours that it takes to drive around and pick up said garbage, in an eight-hour shift I only use that truck to do one trip of garbage,” Gordon explained on Tuesday at a meeting of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), which reviewed the findings of a performance audit of the NSWMA, which was carried out by the Auditor General’s Department for the financial years 2016 /2017 and 2021/22. The report was tabled on July 26 in Parliament.

He said issues such as these highlight the importance of the enterprise team’s work, which contemplates introducing transfer stations across the island, resulting in trucks going in and out of communities more efficiently due to shorter travel distances to and from disposal sites.

Gordon indicated that a plan is being developed to address the situation, including a task force which will be charged with supporting the solid waste management regions.

“It is looking like a very good plan and that task force strategically deployed will make a huge difference,” he said.

The NSWMA currently has 94 trucks in its fleet, 68 per cent of which was down at the time of the audit. Gordon explained that this percentage of units out of the system fluctuates almost daily.

Fifty units are expected in the island in another five weeks, and another 50 in the next financial year.

“Until we get those trucks in the system, we will continue to have some challenges; we intend to hit the ground running, we are training drivers, to ensure that the moment that we get them off the wharf, they will be in your communities,” Gordon said.

Chaired by Lyttleton Shirley, the nine-member NSWMA enterprise team was set up in October 2016 to manage the privatisation of the island’s disposal sites.