The Haags Bosch experiment… : Improving solid waste management, health; creating jobs
“From left, IDB Country Representative Ms. Sophie Mackonnen; Minister of Local Government and Regional Development, Mr. Norman Whittaker; Minister within the Ministry of Finance, Bishop Juan Edghill, and PAHO Country Representative Mr. William Adu Krow”
“From left, IDB Country Representative Ms. Sophie Mackonnen; Minister of Local Government and Regional Development, Mr. Norman Whittaker; Minister within the Ministry of Finance, Bishop Juan Edghill, and PAHO Country Representative Mr. William Adu Krow”

LOCAL Government and Regional Development (LGRD) Minister, Norman Whittaker, has disclosed that the Haags Bosch Sanitary Landfill project is to be replicated in other regions.

This announcement comes on the heels of Guyana acquiring a loan of US$18.02M from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) to implement the Solid Waste Management programme.

Speaking at the official launching Ceremony of the Guyana Total Recyclers Co-operative Society Limited on Wednesday, Whittaker acknowledged the efforts of the GT Recyclers and noted that although they faced negative stigma in their fight for recognition from ‘Waste pickers’ status to Recyclers, they “make an honest living.”

Whittaker announced that the LGRD Ministry, supported by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of the Natural Resources and the Environment Ministry, continues to work to “(identify) landfills in each of the other nine regions.”

“We have been advertising [and] seeking expressions of interest from persons interested in solid waste management,” Whittaker disclosed, as he added that Puran Brothers Disposal Incorporated has given word of its willingness to receive solid waste from Region 2 (Pomeroon-Supenaam), which would be taken to a landfill that is approved by the EPA.

The Minister explained that in other regions the initiative is a work in progress.

[box type=”shadow” align=”alignright” ]“A bottle can generate negative environmental and health impacts on the lives of people; but if it goes to the right place, which is recycling, it can be turned into work, income, social inclusion, and citizenship for the recyclers, who are a historically excluded population” — ACAMRJG President, Mr. Sebastião dos Santos[/box]

HEALTH
Whittaker recently alluded to the Solid Waste Management Bill, soon to be tabled before the National Assembly, and the Solid Waste Management Authority, which will “make provision, among other things, for the increase in fines, and [will] deter people” from littering. The bill, the Local Government Minister said, will “redefine the way we deal with solid waste in this country.”

With a comparative advantage in the health sector, the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO), through Country Representative Mr. William Adu Krow, commended the initiative, saying: “Recycling allows for reduction in the breeding of mosquitoes”, besides preventing the spread of dengue and other communicable diseases, such as Chikungunya that continues to spread throughout the Americas.

“We all know the implications of waste for health…[and] improper disposal of waste can have health implications, most of which lead to infections,” Mr Adu Krow said.

JOB CREATION
Underscoring the social and economic benefits of effective solid waste management, Whittaker stressed that organised groups such as the GT Recyclers become empowered through legal recognition, and enter a position where they can bargain as a unified body. He expressed hope that the vision of the GT Recyclers would be pursued in other regions.

Also speaking at the ceremony was Inter-American Development Bank Country Representative Ms. Sophie Mackonnen, who in her remarks noted the positive relationship between recycling and Guyana’s Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS).

She said that recycled items reduce the need for excess raw materials, which in turn would increase the profits of micro and small business enterprises.

Mackonnen also lauded the efforts of the Government for investing in the social component of the programme, which changed the image and lifestyle of the Recyclers.

President of the Association of Collectors of the Metropolitan Landfill of Jardim Gramacho, Brazil (ACAMRJG), Mr. Sebastião dos Santos, delivered a heart-warming message to the gathering on how sanitary landfills continue to change the lives of Brazilians.

Mr. Dos Santos, who spoke in Portuguese aided by a translator, recalled his first lesson working along with the English-speaking recyclers and opined that “language cannot be a barrier between recyclers in Guyana and recyclers in Brazil.”

The ACAMRJG President, who appeared in the 2010 film “Waste Land”, nominated for an Oscar for Best Documentary Feature, recognised the similarity in waste management challenges faced by both nations. In 2008, the Brazilian authorities scheduled the closing of 2,800 dumps, placing some 1.2M recyclers — well over the population of Guyana — out of work. But in 2002, the Recyclers in Brazil were granted access to the Government, which ushered in the Brazilian Government’s Solid Waste policy, catering for inclusion of the once marginalised and stigmatised Recyclers.

Dos Santos recalled that one of his most memorable experiences was being interviewed by a Brazilian reporter who questioned him on his experiences working with trash, to which he responded, “The greatest challenge was not working with trash, [It was] not letting society turn me into trash.”
Written By Derwayne Wills

 

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