Severe actions against repeat litter offenders

THE 2016 State of the environment Report on Guyana has recommended that authorities take more severe actions against repeated litter offenders to reduce the health, social and environmental impacts of littering.

The report, which was released on Monday, was developed by the government of Guyana with funding from the United  Development Programme (UNDP).

According to the report, illegal dumping or littering remains a big concern in Guyana.

This exist despite the government putting emphasis on sensitising the population through littering campaigns and enforcement of laws and regulations through the Environment Protection Agency’s (EPA) Litter Enforcement Unit.

It was reported that the Litter Enforcement Unit of the EPA received a total of 254 complaints of illegal dumping and littering. Of this amount, 80.3 percent (204) originated from Region Four, 14.1 percent (36) from Region Three, 2.4 percent (6) from Region Five, 2 percent (5) from Region Six and 0.4 percent (1) from Regions One, Two and Seven each.

After general analysis of all complaints, it was discovered that 90 percent were offenses relating to littering in a public place, 9.1 percent to littering in a private place and 0.9 percent to littering from a motor vehicle.

The analysis also indicates that 65.8 per cent of the complaints’ offences referred to domestic waste, 15.7 percent to industrial or construction, 15.4 percent to other offences, including dumping and burning, 2.4 percent to human or sewage waste and 0.4 percent to electronic and medical waste.

With regard to reoccurring complaints, the Unit recorded a 2.8 percent (7) reoccurring rate of which 86% (6) are repeated offenders who were issued citation orders (Clean-up and Litter Removal Order) and warning letters at the first offence.

As a result of this high repeated rate, the UNDP-funded report recommended that “more severe actions” be instituted for repeated offenders.

Meanwhile, the Litter Enforcement Unit within the EPA, reported that a total of 200 citation orders were issued within Administrative Regions Three, Four and Five, with the majority (76 percent) issued within Region Four, including Georgetown. The report added that a compliance rate of 89 percent with citation order was recorded for 2015.

Further, to-date one citation order was pursued in Court and subsequently resulted in an arrest warrant being issued for the offender. The report also highlighted several challenges in the management of solid waste in Guyana. Among the challenges were: inefficient waste-collection services; challenges at the disposal stations; improper disposal of hazardous waste; lack of technical capacity on hazardous waste; health centers with no treatment facilities; and the burning of paddy shaft.

And as a result of these challenges, the impact of improper solid waste disposal has been many.

The report pointed out that while no specific data has yet been produced to assess the economic impact, littering is directly related to canal clogging and flooding. This implies a heavy burden on local government bodies due to increased costs of maintenance. In addition, clogging of canals also increases flooding potential which attracts a heavy economic cost.

In relation to health, the report states that populations living near illegal dump sites can be affected by the negative environmental impacts of these sites, such as the proliferation of vectors. Additionally, it highlighted that improper disposal of hazardous wastes can result in increased risk for injury and infection to the population.

The environmental impacts were also examined, and according to the report, when waste enters waterways (known as wastewater), it negatively changes the chemical composition of the water affecting all ecosystems existing in the water. This also threatens the health of both plants and animals.

With illegal dump sites usually formed along roadways or waste being dumped in drains of many communities, the State of the Environment report explained that this contributes to poor aesthetics and contamination of the environment. It was noted too, that over time, these wastes would produce odors that are unpleasant to the persons living in the community.