MPM Targets Illegal Dump Sites in St. Catherine

MPM Waste Management Limited is moving to clear all illegal dumps in St. Catherine and will undertake an intensive enforcement drive against littering across the parish.

Public Cleansing Manager with the agency, Samuel Mullings, said that while the backlog of waste in the parish has been cleared, illegal dumping sites remain a problem.

Mr. Mullings, who was addressing the monthly meeting of the St. Catherine Municipal Corporation in Spanish Town recently, said that the entity will be stepping up operations to identify and prosecute the offenders.

“St. Catherine has become very clean, with no garbage backlog at [residences] and schools, but we are still experiencing issues with a lot of minidumps on the roads, and illegal dumping that might be coming from drivers or commercial places and from persons who sell on the roads,” he noted.

He said that MPM Waste Management Limited will first clear the areas and then start the enforcement of the anti-littering rules, by deploying officers on motorcycles in the “hotspot” areas.

“They will be targeting the minidumps and ticketing persons for illegal dumping,” he pointed out.

Meanwhile, Chairman of the Corporation’s Public Health and Sanitation Committee, Councillor Sydney Rose, reported that coming out of a recent meeting with the St. Catherine Health Department and the St. Catherine Chamber of Commerce, a major cleanup of the parish will be undertaken starting in Spanish Town on March 8.

The MPM Waste Management Limited operates under the National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA), which has the power to ticket and fine offenders for littering.

Fines can be imposed for littering or disposing of garbage in any public space; willfully breaking any bottle or article made of glass in or on any public place without having lawful authority or reasonable excuse to do so; littering or disposing of garbage in or on any premises owned or occupied by another person without the consent of that person; defacing of public property or public space by erecting, displaying, depositing, or affixing anything on any building, wall, fence or structure, and for employing persons to undertake such activities.