20 Loads of Garbage Cleared from WPM Region By ‘Operation SWEEP COP’
By: , February 7, 2023
Photo: Okoye Henry
The Operation SWEEP COP team clearing garbage at Stonebrook Estates in Trelawny on Thursday, February 2.
Photo: Okoye Henry
Executive Director of the National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA), Audley Gordon (right), converses with Acting Regional Operations Manager, WPM Waste Management Limited, Dramaine Jones (left) and NSWMA’s Operations Director, Aretha McFarlane, at the Authority’s office in Falmouth, Trelawny, on Thursday, February 2. Occasion was the launch of a two-day garbage collection exercise in the WPM region, which was carried out by Operation SWEEP COP.The Full Story
Some 20 loads of garbage were removed from the WPM region during a two-day exercise carried out by ‘Operation SWEEP COP’.
The exercise was undertaken across Trelawny, St. James, Hanover and Westmoreland on February 2 and 3.
‘Operation SWEEP COP’, which is outfitted with 10 motorcycles and eight new garbage trucks, was launched to enhance and enforce proper waste management across the island.
At the launch of the exercise at the the National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA) office in Falmouth, Trelawny, on February 2, the agency’s Executive Director, Audley Gordon, said that the objective was to clear garbage, which had accumulated in the region.
He noted that WPM was among three regions where garbage backlogs were cleared following the acquisition of 50 new trucks in November of last year. However, the region had since “crept out of that safe zone”.
As such, he said, “we have moved the new SWEEP initiative into the area… to ensure that the 20 loads of backlog that they were seeing, that we bring that under control and get that out of the system so that…WPM will be back to where they were, where they had zero backlog”.
The other regions where garbage backlogs have been cleared are SPM, comprising Manchester, Clarendon and St. Elizabeth; and NEPM, entailing St. Ann, St. Mary and Portland.
Mr. Gordon noted that the MPM region, covering Kingston and St Andrew, St. Catherine, and St. Thomas is experiencing “significant improvement and is about to normalise service”.
Mr. Gordon said ‘Operation SWEEP COP’ is a critical component of the NSWMA’s public cleansing and waste management agenda.
He noted that the eight trucks utilised as part of the operation have specially trained drivers and sanitation workers, who act as a response team to potential garbage buildup in the regions.
“I repeat that the SWEEP initiative is driven by need. So, when… there’s no need for it out in the other regions, it stays in Kingston. It is in our capacity to respond [and] that is why we have put in a special team,” he explained.
In the meantime, Mr. Gordon noted that the Authority is anticipating the addition of another 50 units during financial year 2023/2024.
He pointed out that already, preparatory work has started for the procurement of the new trucks and recruitment of drivers and sanitation workers is ongoing in anticipation of the new units.