‘Crime doesn’t pay: Nicking free SSA bins fails’

Greed and theft have moved in on the free carts and bins the Government has handed out in its bid to improve garbage collection and introduce home recycling.

But technology has backfired on the crooks, leading to the recovery of the stolen freebies, a spokesman said.

Just under two weeks into the distribution of roll-out carts and recycling bins under the Sanitation Service Authority’s Residential Waste Collection Improvement Project, bandits have been swiping the bins.

On Thursday SSA Public Relations Officer Carl Alff Padmore issued a stern warning to culprits to leave the bins alone.

“We have had reports of carts and bins stolen. We have retrieved most of them as the roll-out bins can be traced with our technology,” he said.

The project, a collaboration between the SSA and the privately-owned Prosource Limited involves the distribution of  a 65-gallon roll-out cart and an 18-gallon bin for recycling. It was rolled out on September 29 in Bromefield, St Lucy.

The carts do not require any special lifting and are easy to roll out regardless of how much they are filled. Mechanical cart lifters operated by sanitation workers lift and tip the carts into the truck, in a bid to ease the workload of sanitation workers

Padmore told Barbados TODAY the authority has so far delivered 6,000 carts and bins to householders in the north of the island and the distribution process has been running smoothly.

The next phase of the programme proceeds to the City east/City west corridor, he said.

Padmore stressed there was no need for anyone to steal the bins since all households are slated to receive their own free of cost.

“I should emphasise that there is no need to remove anyone’s bin,” he said. “Each householder will receive one once the householder has a residential water metre.

“So we want to urge Barbadians to desist from this practice. Anyone caught will be handed over to the law.” (SD)