Question: What's going on with the garbage situation on this island? I live in Lower Valley and last week we did not have any pick-up on the two days that we normally would have.
What gives?
Answer: We contacted the Department of Environmental Health who are responsible for this issue via email and received no response.
However, we understand through unofficial marl road sources that they are servicing most areas only one day per week at the moment due to issues with the trucks.
We understand that replacement trucks are being purchased and there should be an improvement in a few months. However, as you've indicated that you didn't even get the weekly pick-up this is certainly concerning and we will reach out to them.
It's unfortunate that the public is never advised of those issues proactively especially as we are headed into the holiday season.
In mid 2015 the department spent over $1 million dollars on three Mack Commercial Waste Collection and two Freightliner residential garbage trucks.
The arrival of the trucks represented the first half of a full fleet of ten, with the remaining trucks to be delivered later that month. The next delivery was to include three roll on/roll off trucks for commercial waste, one Grapple truck for both residential and commercial waste, as well as one more Mack Freightliner.
At the time it was said:
With the arrival of the new trucks, officials said, all commercial customers with front loading containers will be on normal schedules and residential customers will see their household waste collected earlier on their scheduled days, with the trucks off the roads by early afternoon.
The trucks are part of a concerted effort by government to tackle the day to day issue of waste-management as it continues on the long haul towards a national strategic plan for the future, which will see the country move toward reuse and recycling instead of dumping most of its garbage in a landfill. The appalling state of the George Town dump is also expected to be addressed through reclamation and remediation, which may include a waste-to-energy component.
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