SOMETIMES it is necessary to ponder the truism of doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. The Georgetown Mayor and City Council is once again being challenged in its solid-waste management. Garbage is a natural human condition arriving from usage and has within recent times been increasing, given that man has become more consumer-oriented. Having said that, proper management in addition to disposal requires consumers and producers’ education on products and waste management, including penalties to ensure proper disposal.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), an objective for managing solid waste is that “people should be able to live in an environment that is uncontaminated by solid waste, including medical waste, and have the means to dispose of their domestic waste conveniently and effectively.”

The aforesaid advises that it is not only about waste in a modern environment, but also understanding the types of waste, from biodegradable which can be buried, plastics and glass which can be recycled, chemically induced products that need to be incinerated in a controlled environment, and so forth. Guyana has barely begun to scratch the surface of controlling our own environment from a biological, ecological and chemical standpoint, begging attention for education and behavioural changes as matters of priority.

The withdrawal of service earlier this month by the two big contractors, Cevons Waste Management and the Puran Brothers Inc, who collectively are reportedly owed more than $300M by the municipality, was bound to adversely impact the city’s ability to manage garbage. Assurance by Director of Solid Waste Management, Walter Narine, that the municipality by replacing the big contractors with small contractors would be able to effectively handle the situation was being optimistic more than pragmatic.

The situation is coming to a head, as garbage is piling up around the city, including in prominent places and in front of important public buildings. In addition to a municipality that claims it is experiencing financial shortfalls, and a citizenry — some of whom are litter bugs and others having poor garbage-collection facilities — how the council proceeds could be anyone’s guess, but there is no ignoring it is being underwhelmed in its capacity to effectively manage this problem.

If this situation is not addressed, including where necessary at ministerial or cabinet level, Georgetown is likely to return to the pre-May 2015 period.  The public health of citizens is too tied to their environment. And though central government has taken decisions to safeguard this, such as in the banning of styrofoam products, accumulation of garbage and improper disposal too pose serious threats.

The WHO cautions of the importance of proper collection and disposal of solid waste as critical to public health, since such minimise contamination and the presence of insects, rodents and pests that are transmitters of diseases. Whereas this may be a basic need for human health, it also carries environmental effects for the ecological system that this and future generations rely on.

From fishes, plants and everything eaten and water used can be affected based on inability or ignorance to understand the consequences of poor waste management. Everything has a cause and effect and while the immediate effects may not be apparent, it’s on the way as night follows day. Our ecosystem is dying and though it can be resuscitated, such relies on conscious, active efforts toward protecting and preserving.

Aesthetically garbage is also an environmental hazard, not only for the threats from emissions given off by some products, but also where medical supplies are poorly discarded and the sense of one’s well-being having to reside, work or conduct business within the area and navigate one’s way through it. The City Council has had previous experience of deprivations and hands-off approaches by central government to make partisan political statements, and where it was even wished a public health crisis was visited on the citizens.

At the end of the day, the earth/Guyana is our home and if there continues to be callous acts, then there will come a point of no return. Waste management is something that has to be taken seriously, more so that government is promoting a ‘green’ economy which pollution undermines. On a lighter side, Guyanese must be among the luckiest of people where a major public health crisis has escaped us; or on a serious note, one of the most burdened with fixable problems.

The business of the city, which is also the capital of the country, has to be conducted differently and there is no intent to cast blame on anyone, save to say the optics, ecological, and health ramifications are deserving of urgent attention.