SSA to meet on garbage solution

The state waste management agency is to decide on a range of likely solutions to mounting piles of garbage across the island, Minister of the Environment Trevor Prescod has told Barbados TODAY.

Prescod said the board of the Sanitation Service Authority (SSA) is to meet tomorrow to make a decision on a number of “innovative measures” to address the problem, in light of the continued refusal of workers to shift from a Monday to Friday work week to working any five out of seven days.

But he would not reveal what these likely new measures are while insisting that whatever decision is made by the SSA board must not be to the workers’ detriment.

Prescod said: “We are going to introduce a few innovative approaches. The truth is that we had a number of challenges; we even increased the number of private waste haulers under the circumstances, but that also became an issue for the workers and the unions.

“So I will see what decision that they come up with but if I discover at any time that the process that they are using could easily lead to some antagonistic environment, I would tell them that they would either have to shift or come up with a different proposal.

“In the next few hours, the board will be meeting, and a number of decisions will be made.”

He added: “I am not going to pre-empt the board decisions, they have proposals before them and some would be rejected and some would be approved.

“The opinions of the general public will be taken into consideration.

“I cannot say which ones would be approved but rest assured that as soon as I get their recommendations and I carry it before the Cabinet, I would be able to say something more definitive.”

Prescod also gave the assurance that Government’s efforts to secure garbage trucks in addition to the seven already brought into the country is making some headway.

He revealed that only yesterday he was informed that the chassis for the additional trucks on order have been shipped from Japan to the United States, where the trucks are being assembled.

He reiterated the position that the additional trucks are critical to efficient collection of garbage. But he stressed that while the additional new trucks are at the final stage of the manufacturing process, he was unwilling to commit to a timeframe, as logistical issues were continuously popping up.

Prescod said: “We are going to continue to have challenges as long as we can’t provide the average amount of trucks required for the service.

“We know that we need no less than 35 trucks to provide the service. These companies cannot tell you or me exactly when these things will be here.

“What we keep doing all the time is trying to get them to understand the urgency. We can’t bully our way through these things, we have to deal with realities as they present themselves.

“This is not a case where we can go pick a product up off the shelf. So far the explanations that have been given to us for the delays are reasonable.”

Prescod urged the public to bear with his ministry as it works to regularise refuse collection island-wide.
colvillemounsey@barbadostoday.bb