Ministry of Environment probing Green Hill illegal waste site

A Ministry of the Environment investigation has begun on the reappearance of an illegal dumping site behind Rayside Construction on Green Hill, St Michael, a ministry official has confirmed.

The official, who declined to be identified, said a business had previously been cited for dumping in the area near the Rayside gully, but there now seems to be a recurrence of the same behaviour. 

The source said the ministry’s biodiversity and conservation department has been collaborating with Rayside’s operations manager, Curtis Rayside, in a bid to track down the offending party. 

“We have to do another visit subject to the weather, but I can’t say what the course of action is because our section is not the one technically responsible for such activities; they are mainly focused on biodiversity,” the official told Barbados TODAY.

When contacted, Minister of the Environment Adrian Forde would only say his ministry would have to investigate the matter. He indicated that he was not aware of all the details regarding the dump. 

Rayside sought to make clear that the site was not on his property. 

“This has already caught the attention of the Ministry of Environment,” he said. “It is not our property. However, [an officer] of the ministry requested permission to enter the gully from our premises in late November. He was made aware of the dumping from the Friendship side and knew it was coming towards us. So, they reached out. They tried to access from the highway side to no avail.”

People often dump illegally in places rarely traversed by the public, said General Manager of the National Conservation Commission Ryan Als.   

While the NCC is not responsible for gully clearance, it would assist in cleaning them up, he added. 

Last August, Senior Medical Officer of Health Dr Leslie Rollock said that while individuals were guilty of the illegal practice, private waste haulers who were often paid to get rid of waste legally were far too often using the island’s gullies and other unapproved areas as dumping grounds.                                                                      

“We are aware that there is a lot of illegal dumping going on,” Dr Rollout said. “Over all the years that we have been trying, when you clean a dump, unfortunately, it makes way for other people to go put stuff back.”

At a time, the medical official was honouring Clean Up Barbados 2022 volunteers for their removal of 66 150 pounds of illegally discarded waste. (EJ)