StJMC to push for waste separation education
Published:Monday | January 13, 2025 | 12:06 AMChristopher Thomas/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
The St James Municipal Corporation (StJMC) is embarking on a drive to educate the parish’s populace on separation of waste for easier disposal, as part of a programme between Jamaica, Colombia and Panama to reduce the amount of plastic waste that ends up in the ocean.
Trevion Manning, the StJMC’s director of planning, outlined the project’s objectives while addressing the municipal corporation’s monthly meeting last Thursday, during which he noted that Montego Bay’s status as a tourism hub is affected by the cleanliness of the local marine environment.
“The Reduction of Marine Plastics Programme is an initiative between the governments of Jamaica, Colombia, and Panama, along with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). What this aims to do is to cauterise a major problem that we are having, because as the tourism mecca, we and our locals are very dependent on our marine environment,” said Manning.
“It has been seen that a significant amount of plastics is damaging our coral reefs and causing major challenges. What this programme aims to do is reduce marine plastics,” Manning continued. “The mayor, Richard Vernon, is championing the cause to have us erect a barrier along the North Gully [in downtown Montego Bay] as one of our starting points, and also we will reach out to our citizens to ensure that we start to recognise the need to stop throwing plastics away, and how we can have separation of our waste.”
According to estimates from the UNEP, more than eight million metric tonnes of plastic get thrown into the ocean every year. This results in pollution problems to include ingestion of or entanglement in plastics by marine life, disruption of food chains, and damage to local ecosystems.
Manning noted that the planned programme, which is slated to start during the upcoming financial year, will include a recycling education campaign that has already been started by the National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA).
“Earlier this week we had representatives from the UNEP here with us for two days so we could work on the work-plan for the programme’s execution, beginning in the next financial year. We will be having a major campaign about separation of waste, and the NSWMA has started it with some communities already, so we are looking to expand on that and have the waste recycled instead of going to the landfills and ending up in our coastlines,” said Manning.
His presentation followed St James’ monthly waste management report from the NSWMA’s Western Parks and Markets, whose senior public supervising officer Sharnon Williams reported that nine communities in the parish were in backlog for waste collection in December during the Christmas period, compared to the 42 districts in backlog during December 2023.
“December is the busiest period of the year, and more waste is generated due to increased festivities. In December we had nine districts in backlog, with approximately two truckloads of backlogged waste, so that for us is a significant achievement,” said Williams. “I am confident that with continued collaboration between our team and the municipal corporation, as well as agency representatives, we can set higher standards for waste management in 2025.”
St James has had a history of poor waste management over the years, with reports of rat infestation and mosquito breeding due to improperly discarded waste, as well as drains being blocked because of garbage pileups.