CLARENDON, Jamaica — Mayor of May Pen Winston Maragh has sought to allay fears of an outbreak of leptospirosis in the parish.

“The health department has not indicated any upsurge in any diseases as it relates to the rodent infestation as a result of the lack of garbage collection,” he said.

He was speaking Tuesday during a one-day push he initiated to rid the parish of what he described as a “chronic backlog of garbage”.

The National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA) deployed 13 trucks from the Denbigh Showground base of its local arm to tackle the growing pile-up of waste in the parish.

“This initiative today will help us to reduce any instance or incidence of any such health concerns. Starting from the town centre, working outwards to the communities, we will see how far we can get to,” Maragh said.

“We intend to tackle some of it this morning, though we will not be able to go everywhere due to distance and time to load and to drop off and come back. I am really happy that we will be able to make a dent in the backlog of garbage collection in the parish,” the mayor added.

Regional manager, Southern Parks and Markets, Edward Muir, repeated an earlier explanation that the agency is hobbled by a lack of resources. This is a national issue for the NSWMA and efforts are being made to source additional trucks. Local Government Minister Desmond McKenzie recently indicated that 50 trucks being purchased are expected in the country by the end of this year. However, by Muir’s estimation, the region covered by Southern Parks and Markets (Clarendon, Manchester, St Elizabeth) will need 30 trucks to effectively clean the area.

He repeated the often-made call for residents to play their part in helping to cope with the challenges being faced.

“We really have a backlog situation and I will not go around that. So we are asking the residents to work with us because there is a shortage of units and resources. We are asking them to help us by properly containerising their garbage,” Muir urged. “If we don’t get to collect the garbage on time, it is a high possibility that [if properly containerised] it will stay intact until we get to come and collect it. It’s not a neglect of our service and we intend to fix the problem as soon as possible.”

He added that the agency has embarked on several initiatives in an effort to reinforce the message of how to properly secure garbage ahead of collection.

“We have started two initiatives, one is ‘Drum a di gate’ where we encourage citizens to properly containerise their garbage and place them into the drums. The other is ‘Bag it’, which was launched last year in May Pen and has been going very well. We see where persons have been containerising their garbage properly,” said Muir.