LAST weekend, I was incredibly heartened to see the sheer effort that went into mobilising resources to engage in the massive clean-up campaign across our capital city Georgetown. With talks of this cleanup being part of a nationwide effort, I could not be happier, but I do hope that these efforts can be sustained.

First, I wanted to talk about why these efforts are important. Of course, garbage is smelly, ugly, and downright unwanted. So when you have mounds of garbage covering streets and clogging drains, it is evident that there is a problem.

Of course, the build-up of garbage is not only a smelly, terrible sight, but it contributes to other issues. Take flooding, for example: our low-lying coast and our vulnerability to rising sea levels, worsened by climate change, already place us in a precarious situation whenever there is the slightest bit of heavy rainfall. But as many of us know very well, the build-up of garbage worsens the flooding that we experience in Georgetown.

One would expect that rainwater would run off and not accumulate in waterways, but it is not uncommon to see a pile of garbage clogging a drain. And that is simply disappointing.

It is not hard to empathise with the people who are forced to traverse those very same waterways and, as such, potentially come into contact with contaminated water. If you depend on public transportation as I do, that means often walking through flooded pavements and roads that are not only covered in rainfall, but also water from an overflowing drain, for example, that has been contaminated with the garbage inside. It’s not very ‘Cooperative oil-producing Republic of Guyana’ material, honestly.

Beyond these flooding woes, consider too that the build-up of garbage has health implications. It really does not augur well for the development and maintenance of a good standard of living.

Fortunately, we should be fine if the massive clean-up efforts are sustained and/or supported with mechanisms to sustainably manage garbage disposal in the city. But such sustained effort does not happen with just wishful thinking.

Significant resources were mobilised to clean up the city in the manner we saw last weekend. That included everything from trucks to hoses to sheer manpower.

Firstly, personal responsibility is crucial. It should go without saying that we each have to engage in better garbage- disposal practices. But, focusing on personal responsibility alone, I believe, seemingly absolves institutions and larger contributors from their responsibilities. And so, businesses have to take greater responsibility for the proper disposal of garbage, if it means spending a bit extra each month. Similarly, our governance institutions, such as our local government bodies, are responsible for ensuring that our garbage is collected and disposed of, but also holding those same businesses responsible.

Following the clean-up efforts, there were reports of three men being arrested and charged for littering along Wellington Street in Georgetown. Those reports did not provide details on the circumstances, but the institution of charges got me thinking. At our markets in Georgetown, I have reported that many vendors usually pay some of the homeless individuals dwelling nearby to dispose of their garbage at the end of the day. I have witnessed the minute consideration being given to where the garbage is taken — just once it is out of sight. And that is why around many of the markets in Georgetown there are mounds of garbage.

Certainly, once caught, those homeless individuals would be culpable, but what about the vendors who are cognisant that the garbage will not be properly disposed of? How do we dissuade those homeless individuals from simply dropping garbage anywhere and how do we encourage vendors to invest a bit more in purchasing bins for their stalls, for example?

I’m not trying to single out vendors and the market situation, though, let’s face it, this is a disgusting situation. I am trying to point out the type of nuanced considerations that I hope people much smarter and much more authoritative than I am would be examining. Without these considerations, I do not believe that any clean-up exercise would have a lasting impact, no matter how grand and well-meaning.

And before I wrap up this column, let me add that I do not believe that punitive measures alone will suffice (as the adage goes- stricter the government, wiser the population).

What was important last weekend was that the clean-up campaign appealed to a greater sense of community — you know, doing something good that would have an overall benefit on many more people. I think our prospects in oil-and-gas development and an expected surge in tourism also conditioned us into thinking that, hey, yes, Georgetown can’t be a stinky place. And so, when we explore all the ways of encouraging people to sustain these clean-up efforts, we have to also find ways of meaningfully connecting them with the cause.

If you would like to discuss this column or any of my previous writings, please feel free to contact me via email: vish14ragobeer@gmail.com