Financing Secured for Waste Management Station in Western Jamaica

Funds have been identified for the establishment of a transfer station to assist in the management of waste in western Jamaica.

This was disclosed by Minister of Local Government and Community Development, Hon. Noel Arscott during his contribution to the 2014/15 Sectoral Debate in the House of Representatives on Tuesday, June 17.

He noted that currently, waste is moved from Westmoreland to St. James in small trucks.

He further disclosed that the site has been secured, and the National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA) has obtained a Non-Objection from the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) with the requisite conditionalities.

“The procurement arrangements are being put in place and ground will be broken as soon as this is completed,” he said.

In the meantime, the Minister said the NSWMA has partnered with a number of private and public sector interests to clean up Jamaica.

A number of these initiatives are: the Clean School’s Competition where registration is now at 152, up from 85 last year; the joint project between the Government and the private sector partners (such Wisynco, Pepsi, Lasco, and Tru-Juice, among others) for the recycling of plastic bottles.

He further explained that the joint project will see approximately 4,690 tonnes or 35 per cent of the PET bottles in Jamaica being recycled by 2016.

“The components of most of our waste are organic material, plastic bottles and bags and styrofoam. We must find ways of doing more with our waste that is the trend globally. In fact, our mantra is reduce, reuse and recycle,” he said.