ALBERT TOWN, Trelawny — Environmentalist Hugh Dixon is advocating for the removal of derelict vehicles, now littering roadsides in communities across southern Trelawny, and for them to be recycled and repurposed to generate revenue.

Addressing the Falmouth Mayor’s Divisional Consultation meeting in Albert Town in the parish Tuesday night, Dixon — who is executive director of the Southern Trelawny Environmental Agency (STEA) — argued that the abandoned vehicles pose environmental challenges, among other things.

“It’s a problem for the environment because they include draining oils, draining batteries, then you go to the fact that they are deteriorating, so they are rusting. The fact is that it is creating habitats for all kinds of unwanted things: rodents, etcetera. More than anything else, it is unsightly for community and I think that a lot of residents within the communities that it is happening are concerned about property value falling and the general unsightly nature of their environment, to name a few,” Dixon said.

Mayor of Falmouth and chairman of the Trelawny Municipal Corporation (TMC) C Junior Gager pledged that the body will seek to partner with the National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA) to remove the derelict vehicles from southern sections of the parish, as was recently done on the northern side.

“We have started with NSWMA, where we had an operation in Hague, so we will have further discussions now to concentrate on the southern parts of the parish to remove these derelict vehicles that are parked by the roadside. Some of them don’t really have any use and some are scrapped,” Gager said.

“What we will do first is come around and place notices on the vehicles and if the owners have use for them then they must take it and put it somewhere secure. If not, we will arrange with NSWMA and they will come with their crane trucks to take them to the dump,” he added.

In a follow-up interview with the Jamaica Observer the mayor said the abandoned vehicles are unsafe and at times contribute to vehicular crashes.

“These vehicles sometimes create accidents because you don’t want to go too close so you go on the other side of the road to avoid collision. It is sort of a trap set there. So we are working with Solid Waste,” he said.

When contacted, NSWMA Acting Community Relations Manager Shannon Williams said the agency is always ready to collaborate with municipal corporations to address environmental and public health concerns, including the removal of derelict vehicles.

“Abandoned vehicles not only create eyesores but they pose serious hazard such as mosquito breeding sites and they also add to illegal dumping. From time to time people will use them to dispose of solid waste. They are health hazard and we do recognise the importance of keeping our communities clean and safe. We are committed to working closely with the municipal corporations to remove these derelict vehicles. We just need to set a time and date and move to them. We will partner and select the date and then it’s a go,” Williams said.

Dixon has hopes for a sustainable solution that turns the derelict vehicles into items of value.

He underscored the need for the municipal corporation to take the lead in addressing the mounting problem by designating a central space for collection and storage which, he suggests, could be the foundation for a large-scale recycling initiative that creates economic opportunities.

“As a small NGO operator, engaged also in eco-tourism, it’s unsightly to take visitors to the community. And as an NGO, it is difficult for us to proceed single-handedly in attacking the problem. It requires, I would think, at the first level, the municipal authority to be involved. They could partner with the community, with environmental entities, and with a view to a commercial possibility as to how we recycle and maybe find an export [market] possibility coming out of it to go to — maybe the car market,” Dixon told the Observer.

He also emphasised that if an entity exists to make money from gathering the abandoned vehicles and taking them to a central point, then it would be a deterrent to “those people who are the perpetrators or the dumpers”

“We’re not just talking environmental degradation and being critical. We’re saying that you have a solution, and the solution is economic, and the solution has benefits for many people — both at the level of the person with damaged goods or with the vehicles to be dumped or scrapped through, to who’s going to move them to a reference point for value added, for recycling and for marketing beyond that, to export so that we can start doing something,” Dixon argued.

Executive director of the Southern Trelawny Environmental Agency Hugh Dixon thinks derelict vehicles can be recycled into items of value. (Photo: Horace Hines)

WILLIAMS… we are committed to working closely with the municipal corporations to remove these derelict vehicles