–as new gov’t mobilises to address issue countrywide

LOCAL Government and Regional Development Minister Nigel Dharamlall last Monday highlighted that the new government will be placing emphasis on putting in place a practical countrywide solid waste management plan to tackle the issue in Guyana.

Speaking at his first press briefing since taking up his ministerial portfolio last week Wednesday, Minister Dharamlall highlighted a number of issues that the government intended to tackle head-on, and solid waste management was among them.

“One of the critical areas of this country has to do with solid waste management programme. It is our intention, from the local government level to the national level, that the government will play a greater and a more critical role in enhancing solid waste management in the country; across villages and throughout the length and breadth of Guyana,” he said.

Guyana has been struggling throughout the years to work out a comprehensive plan that tackles solid waste management across the country. Last year, the ministry’s Sanitation Unit and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) had collaborated to carry out a countrywide assessment so as to initiate plans for the creation of a number of regional and municipal landfills in all but one of the country’s ten administrative regions.

As it is, Guyana has only one engineered landfill, and that facility is located in Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica). There are, however, a number of controlled dumpsites countrywide, but they are nowhere near enough to handle Guyana’s growing waste management issue.
The Haags Bosch Landfill, which became operational back in 2011, had an estimated lifespan of 25 – 28 years, with just under half of its 150 acres being dedicated to the storage of waste.

However, when the facility was designed around 2004, it only catered for an estimated intake of 250 tonnes of waste per day, some 150 tonnes or so less than the in excess of 400 tonnes it’s processing today.

Following the countrywide assessment which was carried out last year, a report was expected to be submitted, which would then be used to set out a Terms of Reference (TOR) for the procurement of a consultant to carry out a further Environment Impact Assessment (EIA).

EIA AND REGIONAL LANDFILLS
The EIA is then expected to guide the creation of the regional landfills. Those regional landfills were expected to be patterned after the Haags Bosch as the model to follow.
In Guyana, waste collection is supposed to be handled by the individual local democratic organs (LDOs), such as your Neighbourhood Democratic Councils (NDCs), and municipalities, but many struggle because of a lack of resources to collect the waste and put systems in place for its disposal. Hence the situation is being overseen by the Ministry of Local Governmnent and Regional Development.
The Ministry has controlled dumpsites at Lusignan, on the East Coast Demeraraa, in Region Four; Byderabo in Bartica, Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni); Rose Hall, in Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne); Esplanade in New Amsterdam, also in Region Six; and Bon Success in Lethem , Region Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo).
That leaves a number of Regions with little options of disposing of their waste, which currently sees many residents burning their garbage, or creating smaller, unregulated dumpsites.
Aside from the regional landfills, a number of municipal sanitary landfills are also in the works. The designs have already been drawn up, and are expected to be presented to the Ministry of Communities (MoC) shortly for sanitary landfills in Bartica, Linden, Mahdia and Lethem.
In an interview last year, Chairman of the Ministry/EPA Committee Gordon Gilkes, who is also head of the Sanitation Unit, had explained that inasmuch as Guyana needs a solution to its solid waste issue, a lot of research has to go into it.

“The [first] assessment is a physical assessment of the location; the closest receptors, waterways, housing and schools and so on,” he’d said, adding: “The EIA, now, will cover all of that and more. The EIA will look at biological receptors; will look at the effects on air pollution, and remedial actions to lessen effects. The EIA would look at more extensive system of the landfill, and examine all the issues, and provide mitigation efforts to mitigate potential issues.”