Prosecute them!

Indiscriminate dumping continues to be a major problem across Barbados and James Paul, Chief Executive Officer of the Barbados Agricultural Society (BAS) is calling on policymakers to enforce the regulations.

A livid Paul pointed out examples of illegal dumping at the company’s Grotto, Beckles Road St Michael headquarters. There was an old mattress, a stove, the remnants of a broken washing machine, a refrigerator and other household items among the items discarded on the BAS grounds right next to a garbage skip.

Paul informed Barbados TODAY that this was not the first time that waste haulers or residents discarded their items on the company’s grounds, with some also  dumping dead animals in the area.

BAS boss James Paul is calling on Government to enforce the legislation on illegal and indiscriminate dumping.

“This is not the behaviour we should have. People go overseas and they abide by the laws of the land in other countries so why can’t we treat our own country with the same respect that we give to other people,” Paul queried.

The BAS boss revealed that they previously called the Sanitation Service Authority (SSA) for assistance and the garbage was cleared and the area cleaned but he admitted the reoccurrence was both disappointing and maddening.

“It is very frustrating that we just had to pay to clean up this place and we don’t have much money because we are not a rich organization and we now have to go and look for more money to get this stuff removed from here which could have been taken by the same truck to the dump,” he contended.

“We have a situation in this country where people seem to think that they can basically flout the law and just dump garbage where they feel like dumping it and it is unfortunate that we are tolerating these kinds of things in our country,” Paul added.

He criticized the indiscriminate dumping of some waste haulers who did not abide by the law and exhibited blatant disregard for businesses and the environment by dumping anywhere.

“This is the kind of behavior we have coming from truckers and these are the same people that come and tell you at the end of the day that they are the poor black man but it is ridiculous when we as poor black people cannot respect each other and treat each other with some kind of dignity at the same time,” Paul argued.

”I think they should be prosecuted to the fullest extent because what is disheartening is that these are things that people can actually call Sanitation Service Authority for them to remove.  So why should they take garbage and bring it right on the property and dump it right here? This is not a dumping site,” he added.

Paul suggested that Government must take action and strictly enforce the legislation on illegal and indiscriminate dumping.

“The law is there to protect people but when we have a situation where the law is broken and then there is no enforcement of the law and the lawbreakers think they can get away with it, that is where we have a lot of problems all the time,” he cautioned.

Paul informed Barbados TODAY he was planning to implement additional security measures to ensure the safety of the BAS’ premises. katrinaking@barbadostoday.bb