Dear Editor,

Recently, on one of my regular trips to Manchester from Kingston, I had the misfortune of witnessing passengers repeatedly throwing garbage out the window of the Coaster bus in which they were travelling.

Before long I found myself singing the popular or maybe not-so-popular jingle Nuh Dutty Up Jamaica. Now, I say not so popular because each time I see something like this on our nation’s roads I wonder if every Jamaican is familiar with this song.

The littering of our roads and public spaces is nothing new. Unfortunately, it seems as if it has become commonplace for too many of us to casually throw our garbage out the windows of the vehicles in which we are travelling, with no consideration or care for our environment.

Over the years this situation has become increasingly worst as we have seen our roads and sidewalks and just about any open space become transformed into garbage dumps. Gone are the days when Jamaicans took pride in the aesthetics of their environment. Of course, this has been blamed on a number of factors, chief of which is the fact that our municipal government is having a harder time than usual in moving our solid waste, very likely due to the shortage of garbage trucks.

This, undoubtedly, is precipitated by an increase in the population, the high consumption of items in boxes, bottles, and plastic, and the inability or unwillingness of citizens to properly containerise and store their garbage.

A few weeks ago some 50 garbage collection units arrived in the island and have now been officially handed over to the National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA). Operation Sweep is currently underway across the length and breadth of Jamaica, with members of the solid waste agency working feverishly in an attempt to get on top of the situation. One can only hope that the efforts of the hard-working men and women employed to the NSWMA, coupled with the legislation promised by Prime Minister Andrew Holness, which will mandate households to properly sort their garbage, will swiftly see an improvement in the garbage dumps that have taken over the towns and residential areas before this becomes a major health issue.

The matter of containerisation and sorting of waste is a sore point for the country and, quite frankly, we are way behind on this one. If Jamaica is to attain the goals and objectives set out in its Vision 2030 plan, solid waste management has got to be placed on the table and handled with more urgency.

Germany, in 2021, was cited as the country with the highest recycle rate, with an impressive 66.1 per cent. This was achieved through strict government policies and the commitment of its people to develop a culture of recycling. There, and in other countries like France, public spaces are littered with sorting and recycling bins which are colour coded based on the materials of the products to be placed therein.

If Jamaica is to get a handle on the waste management crisis that has invaded our space over the last several months, it will need much more than garbage collection units. It will require a complete overhaul of the attitude of the citizenry and our approach towards solid waste management.

Kathey Wanliss

Head of Department of Modern Languages

Shortwood Teachers’ College