Member of Parliament for St Andrew South Eastern, Julian Robinson, is complaining about the garbage pile-up in his constituency, a situation he blames on the National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA).

“It is simply unacceptable and inexcusable that residents in my constituency have to wait three to four weeks for their garbage to be collected. This should not exist in any civilized society,” Robinson said this week as he made his contribution to the State of the Constituency Debate in the House of Representatives.

“What is worse is that this is taking place after the recent acquisition of 50 new garbage trucks,” Robinson added.

He said the inability of NSWMA to collect garbage in a timely manner is forcing residents to dispose of their garbage in ways that are harmful to the environment.

“They either dump the garbage in gullies, which ultimately ends up in the Kingston Harbour or they burn it. Time come for us to get garbage collection right,” said Robinson.

He said: “There is a very specific garbage disposal issue in my constituency that needs addressing. Along Old Hope Road, from Chambers Lane down to Swallowfield, residents bring their garbage from the lanes onto the main road for it to be collected by the NSWMA truck. The problem is that the garbage is often not containerised and left on the side of the road. Once a garbage heap emerges, everyone dumps there and that includes construction waste material and bulky items like old fridges and stoves. As soon as the garbage is picked up, more is dumped there”.

Robinson is proposing that the NSWMA utilises its smaller trucks and go into the communities directly and collect the garbage from the homes. He also stated that much of what is disposed of in the garbage can be composted.

“This could reduce household waste by anywhere between a third to a half of what the trucks have to collect. Given that this works and is environmentally friendly, why is there is no aggressive public education campaign around composting?” he said.

Robinson said it was time for a programme where the Government partners with industrial companies which use drums for storage, to donate them and go into communities and demonstrate how composting can be done.

“While we are talking about the solution, we are not doing enough to influence behaviour change nor are we empowering persons who may want to take that first step,” he stated.