FULLERSWOOD, St Elizabeth — Regional operations manager for Southern Parks and Markets (SPM) Waste Management Edward Muir says the pile-up of garbage in communities in Clarendon, Manchester and St Elizabeth is to be cleared within 10 days.

This follows the boosting of SPM’s fleet with 10 new garbage trucks on Wednesday.

“What we intend to do over the next 10 days is to move the trucks across 10 zones to clear all the backlog in the three parishes and then we will be able to [return] to our regular weekly collection schedule as best as possible. People will see a major improvement in garbage collection,” Muir told the Jamaica Observer on Thursday while rolling out units to clear garbage in St Elizabeth.

“We have 10 new trucks along with 12 operational units, so in total we have 22 trucks working,” he said.

He has, meanwhile, reminded people to separate their garbage for disposal.

“As we approach the Christmas season, we also have engaged some tipper trucks to remove bulky waste, we are asking residents not to put the bulky waste with the loose garbage,” he said.

He complained about the unsanitary practice of dumping dead animals in garbage skips.

“We are asking people to desist from putting dead animals in their garbage. Once there is a dead animal we will come and remove it from the street; it creates an unhealthy environment when the animals are in the garbage and when we go through to clean the area. Just this morning (Thursday) at Darkiss, near Fullerswood, we saw two dead dogs that were among loose garbage,” he said.

– Kasey Williams