NSWMA commits to ‘clean Jamaican Christmas’ as garbage backlog all but cleared
Gavin Riley / Our Today
administrator
Around 80 per cent of the garbage backlog affecting sections of the island has been cleared by the National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA), says the entity’s executive director Audley Gordon.
Gordon, addressing a post-Cabinet press briefing at Jamaica House this morning (December 9), said the recently concluded hurricane season severely impacted the NSWMA’s operations in much of southeastern Jamaica.
“Coming out of the rainy season we did accumulate quite a bit of backlog, especially in Kingston, St Andrew, St Catherine and part of St Thomas. We had some real challenges,” he admitted.
Gordon further noted that NSWMA officers came up with a master plan which saw fleets of garbage trucks working intently, over the last two weekends, to bring the backlog from 200 truckloads to just over 20.
“We are moving in the right direction to clear up the backlog coming into this week,” he said, adding that if the weather conditions continue to prove favourable, the agency “commits to a clean Christmas for Jamaica”.
Gordon said he was confident that the NSWMA was prepared to meet the country’s demands for the festive season.
“We know the problem areas roundabout Christmastime—the heavy vending areas, [and] our commercial centres and we have in past times deployed the kind of resources to ensure we stay on top of the additional garbage that will come in as the season intensifies,” Gordon told members of the media.
“This year is no different. We have already met with the teams [and] allocated as necessary, so there should be no difficulty managing the excess garbage at this time. Jamaica can expect a clean Christmas, and we commit to that,” he added.
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