MAY PEN, Clarendon — A massive three-day clean-up drive has been launched in the Rocky Point Division of this parish to rid the area of bulky waste which provides a breeding ground for mosquitoes.

The initiative was rolled out on Emancipation Day with at least nine trucks, two front-end loaders, and several other private units lined up and ready to go from as early as 7:00 am.

National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA) Executive Director Audley Gordon said the push is part of a national cleanup announced by the Government in the aftermath of Hurricane Beryl.

“All will remember the devastation that attended these parts, and we are all here today in a joined-up effort along with the municipal corporation, Jamaica Defence Force and the councillor for the Rocky Point Division. We are here to lift out all the possible bulky waste that we can out of the space. This is important because the bulky waste — especially the old fridges and stoves — are main haven for mosquitoes. A lot of the mosquito breeding sites are in these old waste items, especially the tyres, and we want to use today, tomorrow, and Saturday to do a comprehensive cleaning of bulky waste from these areas,” Gordon explained.

He pointed out that all the tipper trucks recently handed over by the Government were on location.

“We will be joined by other private trucks as well as scores of labourers from the community will be engaged in the exercise because we alone cannot do it. We need the participation of the residents; personal responsibility has to be a part of this. The town criers went through the communities already, along with other verbal notices,” the NSWMA head added.

Gordon also appealed to residents to put their items in easily accessible locations to facilitate a smooth pickup process.

Councillor Winston Maragh (Jamaica Labour Party, Rocky Point Division) welcomed the initiative even as he noted that the area is prone to hurricane damage because of its geographic location.

“We did start some work doing some little cleanup, but today we will be able to remove all the bulky waste from the communities in the Rocky Point Division. The people of the community welcome this; they have been calling for it. The situation is that many of these persons, when they lost their roofs and the two days of rains came after, it damaged all their equipment. They have no alternative but to throw them out, so we welcome this initiative,” Maragh explained.

Mayor of May Pen Joel Williams was also on hand to give support.

“This exercise could not have come at a better time. This area was devastated by the hurricane, and in order to move forward the citizens need their space to be cleaned. I thank the NSWMA and hope this exercise will be as effective as we anticipate it to be. I am expecting to see a lot of garbage, as this area was badly hit. All the furniture, appliances, and other items that would have been damaged are being removed from the space as well as other material that would have been here over an extended period before the hurricane,” he said.

Rocky Point resident Desrene Hollet also welcomed the initiative.

“I feel good and happy seh all those rubbish and old pan I have in my yard I take them out and dem go in the truck. All the long-time things, like the old fridge and old stove, mi take them out, and old zinc weh no have no use me take them out and dem get picked up in the truck,” she said.

Another resident who identified himself as Evan was equally grateful.

“The storm come in and blow off the doors [of his house] and thing. Mi glad fi di clean-up thing, because people a come and go and see the heap a rubbish and it a cause mosquito, but mi glad fi see the clean-up,” he said.

Councillor for the Rocky Point Division Winston Maragh (left) joins (from second left); public cleansing manager at Southern Parks and Markets, Opal May Samuels; executive director NSWMA, Audley Gordon; and mayor of May Pen, Joel Williams, during Thursday’s launch of a three-day clean-up of bulky waste.

NSWMA crew members remove an old fridge and a washing machine from a residence in Rocky Point as part of the agency’s bulky waste clean-up initiative.

Piles of bulky waste at the gate of a premises in Rocky Point awaiting removal by NSWMA.