NSWMA Sending 22 Trucks to Western Jamaica Sunday

The National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA) will be temporarily rerouting 22 trucks to western Jamaica on Sunday (March 22) to address garbage backlog in the region.

The assistance will come from NEPM Waste Management Limited and Operation Strategically Working to Enforce and Enhance Public Cleansing (SWEEP).

“They’re going to send trucks to us with their drivers and sanitation crew, coupled with our trucks. We will go in and we will clear the backlog,” NSWMA Community Relations Manager, Sharnon Williams, told JIS News.

She noted that the rerouting of the trucks is part of a coordinated effort to restore efficiency to the collection schedule, which was disrupted by the passage of Hurricane Melissa in October 2025.

She said that while the agency works to clear the backlog, “citizens do have a responsibility to containerise their waste until the truck comes,” advising against illegal dumping of garbage in the event of delays.

“Trucks may break down and there may be delays. However, as citizens, we must have that civic duty to do what is right,” she added.

Ms. Williams is encouraging persons to contact the NSWMA to report any delay within their communities and to keep up-to-date with the schedules that are posted on the agency’s website and social media pages.

In the meantime, the NSWMA is reporting that conditions in Catherine Hall have returned to a state of normalcy following the passage of Hurricane Melissa.

She noted that the agency carried out tree-cutting, cleared existing dump sites, and removed a large volume of bulky waste from the area.

“People would have been flooded out. They had a lot of bulky waste – stoves, fridges, beds. Some of them were probably new, but damaged because of the flood. So, we have removed lots of that waste out of the community,” she told JIS News.