MONTEGO BAY, St James — Mayor of Montego Bay, Councillor Richard Vernon, is lamenting the financial impact that improper disposal of waste is having on the municipality.

“Irresponsible dumping adds to a soaring municipal budget. It’s costing us millions to keep the place clean just because persons aren’t doing the right thing,” he remarked at the monthly council meeting last Thursday.

Vernon subsequently explained to the Jamaica Observer that the corporation has to be doing a lot of cleaning up, especially with heavy equipment, which contributes to the bill.

“The bulky waste, the loads that we have to be clearing out, the derelict vehicles that persons are bringing into the space, yes, it is costing us millions.

“However, I can’t give the exact figure at this point,” he explained.

The mayor, during his address, pointed to some things he’s noticed, especially in the south gully area, that continues to pose a problem.

“Piles of garbage in gullies, and this one in particular is as a result of the persons utilising the taxi stand along Embassy Place who continue to throw garbage into the gully.

“And many of the communities that are close to the embankment, and some not so close, they still utilise the gully as a means of waste disposal,” Vernon said.

The mayor also highlighted the practice of individuals throwing garbage from vehicles, which contributes to the challenges that they are now facing.

“Despite the efforts of the local authority, despite the efforts of the WPM [Waste Management Limited], of the St James Health Services to raise the standard — the environmental standards and the public health standards — we have been challenged by persons who just believe that this is the way they should live. Unacceptable!” he said.

But attempts are being made to combat some of these issues, one of them being the MoBay Step Up programme that the mayor has been leading for about a year now.

“We continue daily manicuring of the city, revived street washing, and innovative dump site conversion into beautiful garden. The results are clear — a cleaner, greener Montego Bay is possible,” he said.

However, he highlighted that over the course of the year they’ve been noticing a wide range of issues connected to the improper disposal of garbage.

“Through the programme, we have seen an alarming trend. Overwhelming plastic and bulky waste, food scraps, these things are creating breeding sites for pests and possible disease.

“We have to do better, and I am calling on the wider citizenry of the municipality to step up their efforts to do better. Trash thrown carelessly today leads to flooding tomorrow,” he appealed.

Councillor Kerry Thomas (People’s National Party, Mount Salem Division) rose in agreement with the mayor, but urged for greater enforcement as it relates to the issue.

“While we ask of the people, we have to put some prosecutory processes in place, whether we use the municipal police or the police, to start hold some people responsible for these things so that they can start to develop a greater civic pride.

“Sometimes people react to things when you put things in place to really combat it, and I think you need to add that little layer. We don’t want it to be that way, but in the event, who choose to continue to litter and dirty the place, we have to do something about it,” he insisted.

In response, the mayor agreed, but said one of the main focus of the programme has been monitoring certain areas, which has been reaping some results.

“When we started the conversion of the dump site at Dome Street, we thought that persons were going to test it and that is why we ensure that we had surveillance system in place, and a year later, it is still there. No one tried because we were waiting, and we’re still waiting,” he declared.

The municipal corporation is now looking at doing the same with other areas, particularly in the city, to improve the aesthetics of these areas.

“There are several other dump sites in the town where once we’ve completed the proper assessment of them, we will know how best to treat with them, because some of them really need to be converted completely, removed from the location, and find alternative means of waste management for those areas,” Vernon said.

“But it is a tough task, and especially when you are there observing first-hand persons carelessly just throwing the garbage out, throwing it through the window, dumping it in the gully… it is disheartening. It’s tough, but we keep trying, and hopefully we can maintain the space with the access… to a small budget to execute these things,” he added.