There are times when we all must simply call a spade a spade even if it ruffles feathers, hurts feelings, or is even deemed impolite.

One such is in the sub headline of this newspaper’s lead story of the recent Saturday edition which focused on illegal dumping of garbage in the capital city.

A consequence is that the Kingston and St Andrew Municipal Corporation (KSAMC) is forced to spend far more that it should — using taxpayers’ money — on clean-up operations.

‘Nasty people forcing KSAMC to spend millions to clean drains blocked by improperly disposed garbage’ read our sub headline.

In ordinary circumstances, our editors would have refrained from referring to people as ‘nasty’. But persistent, wanton, and illegal disposal of garbage represents a message that people need to be told the truth: Such behaviour is nasty. And those who insist on behaving in that fashion are nasty.

It can’t be that people are removing garbage, including non-degradable plastics and other material, from their homes and business places to dump elsewhere with no regard to the law, community welfare, or common decency.

That would not only be nasty, it is also very dangerous.

A very predictable end result of such behaviour is the clogging of drainage systems leading to hazardous flooding.

There is also toxic contamination of coastal areas, mangroves, reefs, and so forth, which in turn trigger erosion of beaches/coastlines and serious damage to fishing grounds.

There are other consequences of course, such as the unsightly, smelly pollution of the environs. That last, recently kindled the ire and disgust of the principal of Maxfield Park Primary School, Ms Tracey-Ann Holloway-Richards.

She pointed out that garbage dumped by uncaring people, and a resulting rat infestation, had made life “nightmarish” at her school.

In the case of the KSAMC and other local authorities now striving to clear water ways to prevent flooding in what is the new hurricane season, officials tell us what we already know from casual, visual evidence.

That debris of all sort, including old refrigerators and other discarded household appliances, plastic bottles, used food containers, etc, construction and business-related wastes, washed down or dumped are piled high in drains, on street sides, and open lots.

And yet, as everyone knows, Jamaica does have an anti-litter law.

As we said in this space very recently, the authorities need to apply that law. Whatever needs to be done to get that done should be done.

If it is that the penalties for littering are too light, they should be appropriately strengthened.

But it can’t only be about punishment. Believe it or not, there are people who see nothing wrong with tossing an empty plastic bottle through the car window. They literally know no better.

For that reason sustained messaging through basic public education is very important, not just in formal media but in our social interactions at every level.

On social media, in church, on political platforms, on street corners, in bars, beauty parlours, wherever, influencers should keep reminding people of their responsibilities as good citizens, which must include cleanliness.

Obviously, that messaging is absolutely essential in schools.

That’s how we will eventually achieve — no matter how long it takes — not just a cleaner Jamaica but also a society of which we can all be proud.