Sanitation authority vows police action against dumpers

The Sanitation Service Authority has warned it will drop the full weight of the law on people who engage in flagrant and repeated illegal dumping.

SSA Public Relations Officer Carl Padmore made the vow as he visited the junction of Kensington New Road and Fontabelle for the third day after receiving reports that dumping had returned to the same illegal site that sanitation workers had cleared the day before.

Padmore revealed that surveillance video of the scene had captured the illegal dumper earlier in the day. He warned that the SSA is taking a no-nonsense approach to illegal dumping all around the island and that lawbreakers may soon find themselves in front of the courts.

He said: “The law is very clear – under the Health Services Act, once we know who the perpetrators are, they can be taken before the law courts. We would have already informed the police that we are working with this matter, and we have informed the Ministry of Health as well.

“We are hoping that all of the parties can work together, nice synergy to get it there, so we are prepared to go to the law courts.”

Padmore also revealed that there were at least two other sites around Bridgetown that were a cause of concern in terms of repeated illegal dumping. He repeated the accusation that backyard butchers had paid street people to dump offal at illegal sites.

He said: “We had a problem like that in President Kennedy Drive, and now we have a sign there and we did more education. What is happening, is [that] the one in President Kennedy Drive, now that we are more vigilant in the area, the guys now are moving from that area to behind St. Leonard’s School, and if you go behind St. Leonard’s School now you will see a big pile-up.

“That concerns us, and we spoke to one of the young man, the police spoke to him, and he admitted that [someone] gave him a $5 to take the stuff elsewhere. So the responsibility is [with] us. If we break that cycle and don’t pay him, then there is no work that he is doing,”

Padmore pleaded with businesses, both large and small, to use the SSA’s services when seeking to dispose of waste from their businesses. (SB)