Government Pursues Strategy To Transform Solid Waste Management

The Government is embarking on a strategy to transform municipal waste management, where disposal dumps, such as Riverton, St. Andrew and Retirement, St. James, will be permanently closed, says Prime Minister, the Most Hon. Andrew Holness.

Speaking at an education fundraiser at the Half Moon Hotel, Montego Bay, on January 14, Mr. Holness said what currently exists as it relates to waste disposal has become untenable and that a permanent solution is needed.

“This society has a different set of values and standards… and of course, a better understanding of health and the environment and certainly much higher expectations than say 40 to 50 years ago,” he noted.

“This Administration also shares those higher standards and expectations, and we [as best as possible] are trying to live up to them. [We are also cognisant] that these problems that were created [decades ago] cannot be solved with the flip of a switch,” Mr. Holness added.

The Prime Minister said that when the Government took office in 2016, an enterprise team was put together to study the issue of waste management, noting that “it has taken us almost six years to reach the point where we have done all the studies necessary”.

“We have done the environmental, economic and financial studies to come up with a strategy that is going to transform municipal waste management in Jamaica… to move it from the deplorable state that it is in to one in which we can all be proud,” Mr. Holness noted.

The Prime Minister said what will be developed is a total waste management system, an integrated system that will see a long-term concession to construct a waste-to-energy plant in Jamaica.

“Effectively, we will create a market for waste. We will be creating this circular economy in waste, because [waste] will become a feedstock for electricity generation. So, very soon, waste will have value and where we will close the Retirement and Riverton City dumps,” he added.

The Prime Minister said that through a public and private-sector partnership, the Government will give the greenlight for the construction of a sanitary landfill in the centre of the island, adding that “we have identified the lands already and the studies have been done, and we intend to go to market very soon to find a partner who will construct and operate”.

He pointed out that the Government will also give long-term concession for the collection of waste and the building of transfer stations, noting that the Cabinet will soon be getting the business case for “all these operations for us to approve”.

“Once the business case is approved, then we go to the RFP process (request for proposal) where we go to market. We have done a sounding already of investors and that has been very successful. This is an area that is maturing and there are many investors who have turnkey operations who want to come and do the entire thing,” the Prime Minister said.

Mr. Holness further noted that the new initiative will also see the National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA) changing its mode of operation from being a collector of waste and manager of landfills.

“The NSWMA will now become the enforcement arm, and so their operations may change,” he added.