Gov’t Reviews Garbage Collection and Waste Disposal System

Prime Minister, the Most Hon. Andrew Holness, says the Government is committed to resolving the issues surrounding the collection and management of waste.

He said the Government has undertaken a comprehensive review of the public sanitation, garbage collection and waste-disposal system.

“We now have a plan which will see greater private-sector participation in waste collection, the introduction of waste-to-energy conversion, the commissioning of new and properly built disposal sites and the decommissioning of various dumps, including the Riverton City,” he said.

Mr. Holness was addressing the joint meeting of the Senate and the House of Representatives on August 5 in commemoration of Jamaica’s 60th anniversary of Independence.

“By September, I will be having discussions with the Member of Parliament for Western St. Andrew to fully brief him on the plans and to secure his support for the plans,” he said.

He noted that dialogue is necessary, as the country’s dump sites provide a source of revenue for some people.

“Just to be clear, this is something that the political class will have to work together on because it is not simply a matter of saying we are closing down Riverton City.

People depend on it for their economic survival, people live around it,” he said.