Charlestown, Nevis (July 24, 2007)
Minister of Health on Nevis the Hon. Hensley Daniel called on residents to manage their garbage on a personal level, in an effort to assist the island’s Solid Waste Management Corporation to better maintain a clean and healthy environment.
Mr. Daniel made the call during a recent interview with the Department of Information while he addressed the expansion of four additional acres and the improved management of the island’s sole landfill at Low Ground. He said the expansion and new fencing, was to provide to meet the needs of greater volume of garbage generated on the island.
“As we improve the management of the landfill, we want you the public to improve the management of your own refuse. If the truck does not come one day, keep it inside and do not allow your garbage to be blown all over. We want you to take a personal responsibility for your garbage disposal and Mrs Lawrence (Manager) and her team will be more than able to assist you. “We are working assiduously to improve the facility and here is one example of that improvement. Let us together manage our disposal individually so that we can be in a better position to manage it at the Solid Waste Management Corporation,” he said.
The Health Minister referred to the indiscriminate and improper practise of persons who dumped refuse en route to the landfill to avoid the necessary fees. He said the time had come for Nevis to move in an upmarket way which included behavioural and attitudinal changes in keeping with the island’s tourism thrust.
“We cannot continue to throw refuse anywhere and from a public health position this is not good”¦We are satisfied that over time, we are going to have all of the refuse covered and a proper operational landfill.
“At the moment we are taking it from where it was, just before we came to government, what I would call in the traditional way a dumpsite. What we are doing now with new approaches and new ways of doing things, we are approaching the stage where we will have a proper and functional landfill,” he said.
The improved management, the Health Minister explained, would safeguard against the breading of flies and by extension, outbreaks of gastroenteritis which had occurred in the past in nearby communities.