ACKNOWLEDGING that he’s now at his wits’ end with the persistent and widespread practise of illicit dumping of garbage across the island, National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA) Executive Director Audley Gordon says the agency will be assembling a skilled enforcement team to track and prosecute violators.

“We are in the process of reordering our whole enforcement strategy. We are looking to recruit a higher calibre of people for enforcement; people who understand more about investigative work, people who understand more about prosecuting cases. So you will see us building out a totally different enforcement set-up where it will be more nimble and significantly improved,” Gordon told the Jamaica Observer last Thursday.

The development comes after residents in an area of Waltham Park, St Andrew, recently called on local officials to impose strict penalties on perpetrators who continue to litter their community.

At the time, they told the Observer that, despite the NSWMA’s efforts to clean the heavily littered area, both residents and passing motorists continued to treat the roads as dumping grounds.

Asked to respond to the residents’ complaints, Gordon expressed similar frustration, noting that the issue of illegal dumping is not unique to the Waltham Park area but is a widespread issue across the country that continues to place strain on the agency’s resources and workers.

“There’s a proliferation of them across the country and very costly to maintain, and it’s just one of the real bad habits that will take some serious public education and enforcement to deal with. Just know that it’s all kinds of people who do it. We have intercepted pickup trucks, SUVs, regular dump trucks; we have charged people — we really do a lot of interception and enforcement,” he said.

However, he said that despite several efforts to manage the disorder while enforcing penalties on violators, the situation has not improved.

“It just keeps happening. We believe that we have to continue with the public education — and it’s frustrating at times, but we have to just keep going. We’ve placed ‘No dumping’ signs, people tear them down, and people sometimes dump right at the foot of the ‘No dumping’ sign, [which is] a total disregard for anything called order. So it’s very, very challenging and, as I said, it’s widespread,” he told the Observer.

Fines under the anti-litter Act, which is primarily enforced through the National Solid Waste Management Act of 2001 and its 2003 regulations, range from $2,000 to $10,000 for breaches, including dumping garbage, littering public spaces, and defacing properties.

Last month, Local Government and Community Development Minister Desmond McKenzie was reported as saying that the fines will be increased in the upcoming legislative year.

“In the new legislative year, hopefully by the middle of the year, those legislations will be tabled and passed. You’re going to be seeing a difference in terms of how public order on our streets is executed,” McKenzie said.

The comment came seven years after he made a similar pledge in a Jamaica Information Service (JIS) interview, saying that amendments are to be made to the Act, following recommendations made by Cabinet.

“When I took the document to Cabinet there were some concerns about compliance and making it work. It is one thing to have the fines, but we must put the systems in place to make it work. A number of recommendations were made,” the JIS report quoted McKenzie.

According to the JIS report, recommendations included greater involvement by stakeholders to ensure compliance with the Act.

“Cabinet asked us to go back and get the cooperation of the local authorities and involve a wider cross section of the country, including the police, to get their support, and we have done that,”
JIS quoted McKenzie, adding that he said the new anti-litter Act will impose stronger penalties, including higher fines for illegal dumping.

Last Thursday, Gordon said the agency intends to ramp up its enforcement methods by enlisting trained security personnel and people with expertise in investigative and undercover operations.

“It shouldn’t take us more than another six months. I don’t like to put timelines but, all things considered, we should be able to get the team that we need in place, with the requisite vehicle support and so on.

“We already have some bikes and so on, but we’re going to be really going hard with the enforcement and a significantly upgraded enforcement unit, and we’re going to be continuing to push and even improve too on the public education aspect,” the NSWMA boss said.

He urged Jamaicans to make use of proper disposal channels, including engaging registered haulers, arguing that the associated cost is minimal compared to the environmental damage, including blocked drains, flooding, and degradation of communities, caused by illegal dumping.

Gordon also pointed out that preserving the country’s environment is a shared responsibility.

“We have a duty to Jamaica. Jamaica’s beauty can’t be [left up to] just the few men and women who work for the National Solid Waste Management Authority. All of us, as a collective, have to take on this project and make sure that we make what’s already a very beautiful country the cleanest country in the world,” said Gordon.

His call echoed a point made by McKenzie last month that legislation alone will not solve the problem.

“The truth is, you could put all the statutes on the books, if the Jamaican people don’t have a change of mind, then it is not going to work,” he said.

Garbage is left next to this new ‘No dumping’ sign in the Waltham Park community of St Andrew, after the area was cleared of waste by National Solid Waste Management Authority teams.