SAVANNA-LA-MAR, Westmoreland — Citing illegal dump sites and permanent structures being built on the sidewalks of Negril, Daniel Grizzle, the proprietor of Charela Inn and director emeritus of the town’s chamber of commerce, is concerned that the tourist town is “becoming a slum”.

“It is completely getting out of order and every Jamaican should feel ashamed,” Grizzle said during a presentation at Thursday’s monthly council meeting of the Westmoreland Municipal Corporation (WMC).

While he credited street sweepers employed to the National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA) with doing a very good job and advocated for them to be given a salary increase, the hotelier said there is a problem enforcing anti-litter laws. He also suggested that the fine for littering should be at least $1 million. The maximum is now $10,000 per violation.

“How shabby the Norman Manley Boulevard looks because there are garbage containers all over it,” Grizzle bemoaned. “The place is filthy! When you have electricity outage or water shortage, you can find an excuse to give to the guest [to explain] why it happened. But when somebody comes back and say to you that there is so much filth in your town, it makes you feel very small. What excuse can you give then?”

He said the blue plastic drums used to store garbage detract from the beauty of the main route in and out of the town.

“Something has to be done so these people can be prosecuted and be shamed in the public sphere and I think that this body can help us,” Grizzle appealed to members of the WMC.

The NSWMA is responsible for enforcing the NSWMA Act, including the provisions related to litter control. The Act, which was passed in 2002, defines litter as “solid waste in any public place” and includes refuse, rubbish, bottles, glass, debris, dirt, rubble, ballast, stones, noxious or contained substances, or any other matter likely to deface, make untidy, obstruct, or cause a nuisance in a public place.

Throwing, dropping, or otherwise depositing or leaving any litter in any premises owned or occupied by another person without the consent of that person, is an offence.

Tickets and fines for litter violation may be issued by any person appointed as a traffic warden, a person appointed as an authorised officer under the National Resources Conservation Regulations, a public health officer, any member of the Jamaica Constabulary Force, authorised officers under the NSWMA Act, an inspector, and any other person acting in aid of such person acting in the execution of his office or duty.

Grizzle said as soon as an area is cleaned by street sweepers, garbage is thrown from vehicles, giving the appearance that the area was never cleaned.

“The main boulevard is named [for] one of our national heroes. Yet it must be one of the worst boulevards in this part of the world, where ugliness, happiness, and dirt is concerned,” he chided.

“The laws are there in the books to protect it and to clean it up, but there has been no enforcement. Once one person realise they can get away with it, everybody get away with it. People become accustomed to the litter without any punishment being handed out,” added Grizzle.

The businessman also maintained that while there are now two garbage trucks assigned to Negril, they focus on collecting commercial garbage. He said this is because people from residential areas dump their waste in the town centre.

However, senior public cleansing inspector for Westmoreland Leona Bennett rebutted that assertion; she told the meeting one truck is used for residential purposes and the other for commercial.

During her presentation Bennett pointed out that new procedures were put in place after complaints that NSWMA staff have not been doing a good job.

“We have implemented new measures of capturing data to defend our staff,” she stated. “Because we have staff working 18 hours per day, then we are being told that they did do not do their jobs and that they have not picked up at certain locations.”

Trucks are now retrofitted with tracking devices to prove that each one goes to assigned communities. In addition, zonal monitors who travel with each truck are required to provide photographic proof of work done. This will accompany data on the time each location is cleaned and its condition at the end of the collection process.