THE management of solid waste, particularly in municipalities, has been a salient issue that the government has been making strides to address. The Georgetown Mayor and City Council, which has oversight for waste disposal in the city, has over the years continuously displayed its inability to implement effectively a solid waste disposal management system that removes and disposes of garbage.
A resolution of the problem was however achieved last year with the commencement of operations of the country’s first sanitary landfill- the Haags Bosch facility, aback Eccles, East Bank Demerara.
The Mandela dumpsite, on the eastern part of  Le Repentir Cemetery, was supposed to be utilised for a two-year period for garbage disposal while the city worked on an alternative site. This alternative site was never realised and the situation at Mandela deteriorated, exposing residents in the immediate communities to an unhealthy environment.
Recognising the serious environmental threat, government sought to assist the municipality in gaining the support of external agencies in improving the city’s solid waste management.
The aim was to find a solution that allowed for the closing of the Mandela dumpsite, as well as the transformation of the whole concept of garbage disposal in Guyana.
Through the assistance of the Inter American Development Bank (IDB), that provided funding to the tune of US$18M, a programme for the realisation of a properly prepared sanitary landfill evolved.
The Haags Bosch sanitary landfill was the waste disposal key that strengthened the Georgetown municipality’s capacity to manage solid waste in the city, while concurrently encouraging behaviour change among citizens with regard to waste disposal.
The contract was awarded to BK International and Puran Brothers, at the cost of US$9.7M, and these two were tasked not only with constructing the landfill,  but also with operating the site over a five to nine -year period.
The landfill was to be a collection and treatment site, as is the role of sanitary landfills, which is basically a hollow in the ground in which garbage is dumped, flattened and covered daily with a fresh layer of dirt.
When completed, the modern landfill site will have four cells, each sitting on 16 acres , with a lifespan of 10 years. The facility was intended  to cater for the garbage of 15 NDCs and Georgetown.
The facility opened in 2011, with the first of the four cells completed, and a directive was issued for garbage disposal firms and other handlers to desist from depositing garbage at the Mandela site.
With just over a year under its belt, the facility has moved beyond catering for the garbage disposal of the 15 NDCs, and has been accepting garbage from other locations.
Operating under the directive of the BK International contractors, garbage disposal at Haags Bosch follows a very systematic process at the facility that opens from 6 am-5pm daily.
Vehicles transporting waste into the dumpsite are weighed at the facility’s scalehouse, before proceeding to the landfill site where the waste is disposed of and subsequently pushed backward by bulldozers.
Measures are also taken to ensure trucks taking garbage into the landfill are properly covered to avoid spillage on the Eccles Industrial Estate road, which allows for access to Haags Bosch.
Government continues to engage with the contractors and operator of the facility to correct, where necessary, hiccups in the construction of the landfill, and to ensure the full realisation of an effective facility.
Since 2007, government and contractors have been able to work together to surmount many of these challenges, and the facility has been receiving daily more than 250 tonnes, which it was designed to accept.
Government has already moved to address this problem and through the Ministry of Local Government has commenced discussion with solid waste management stakeholders with the aim of embarking on a government/private sector partnership to open landfills in all the regions, except Region 4.