WE the concerned youth of Region #4 find that garbage disposal is a burning issue that plagues the Garden City and its surroundings within Region #4.
The residents living in the Triumph area, East Coast of Demerara are no exception as they are forced to burn their garbage or dump the garbage into empty lots or along the roadways. The residents in the area have no other choice since the Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC) fail to execute their duties and functions as it relates to garbage collection on a regular basis. Private contractors are charging residents a fee of $360 to uplift their garbage per week, while the NDC charges $1,000 on a monthly basis, but fail to deliver this service promised to the residents.
Garbage should be collected and disposed of in the proper manner at least two times a week in order to prevent persons from dumping their garbage since some households cannot afford to pay a weekly fee for the collection of garbage. The non-collection of garbage can result in several environmental hazards, pollution of our waterways, air pollution and the harbouring of rats, cockroaches, flies and mosquitoes etc. Non collection of garbage can result in diseases such as the influenza, leptospirosis, cholera, yellow fever. The spread of disease is on the increase due to the very active rainy season and the accumulation of garbage within the community.
The problem faced by the residents in the Triumph area was brought to our attention by one of our residents and we are pleading with the relevant authorities to intervene in the issue and bring some relief to the residents of the area.
We are asking that the NDC execute their functions in an effective and efficient manner without demanding charges from residents to uplift their garbage on a regular basis. We are highlighting this issue with the hope that it may be addressed and that the garbage can be uplifted on regular basis so that persons could stop dumping garbage since this has serious health-related issues while the burning of garbage contributes to air pollution and the emission of gases into the earth’s atmosphere that contributes to the damage of the ozone layer.
