Mobay Mayor Meets with Workshop Operators to Address Illegal Dumping

The St James Municipal Corporation will be meeting with operators of workshop facilities in Montego Bay as the organisation takes measures to address illegal dumping in the city.

These include establishments where people do repairs or manufacturing and include garages, woodwork and metal shops.

Mayor of Montego Bay, Councillor Richard Vernon, said that the session is scheduled to take place on April 23 at the Montego Bay Cultural Centre, beginning at 10:00 a.m., and will address the pile-up of garbage despite the consistent efforts of the National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA) to keep the city clean.

“We are seeing an increase in litter as you move across the town centre on a day-to-day basis. Despite the efforts of the NSWMA to sweep, containerise and dispose of garbage, you see, after about 2:00 pm, 3:00 pm… litter lining the town centre,” he lamented.

Councillor Vernon, who was addressing the recent monthly sitting of the Municipal Corporation, said that a vast portion of the waste material is due to poor disposal practices by workshop operators.

“So, if you know that you operate in a wood shop, metal shop, spray shop, garage, any type of workshop that is across this municipality, you need to be here at this meeting so that we can have a discussion,” he urged.

A meeting will also be held on April 24 with business operators who will be impacted by sidewalk improvement works on St. James Street and Lower Market Street.

The consultations are part of the ‘MoBay Step Up’ programme, which is aimed at ridding the city of waste.