–Minister Dharamlall says

By Cassandra Khan
MINISTER of Local Government and Regional Development Nigel Dharamlall on Thursday said that solid waste management remains one of Guyana’s biggest challenges, but maintained that this could be addressed, once individuals take responsibility when disposing of their refuse.

Although the government has been doing its part in trying to promote a greener and cleaner Guyana, the minister said more needs to be done at an individual and community level.
“I think one of the biggest issues or challenges of our country is to make sure that people continue to manage their garbage in a very efficient way,” Minister Dharamlall said during a Facebook programme, the Guyana Dialogue.

He said that solid waste management is a mandate of the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development, but local government authorities are also integrally involved in proper garbage collection and disposal.
“In many cases, the government, centrally, through the ministry, we will pay for the collection and disposal of garbage in some cases. And in other cases, we actually invest in the construction of solid waste and landfill sites across the country,” Minister Dharamlall said.

He went on to say that: “… we spend a few 100,000 US dollars equivalent per month to manage the landfill site at Eccles; it facilitates garbage from Region Four, and to a large extent Region Three.”
Minister Dharamlall said that there are upgraded dump sites in other regions.

He related that, as it is now, there are a number of expressions of interest from private individuals to get recycling machines in the various regions.
The ministry, Minister Dharamlall said, has been providing information to the private individuals but they are responsible, at the business level, for making investment decisions.

He related that it is part of the government’s programme to focus on building the esteem of communities, where they are engaged in proper waste disposal, whether it is recycling, reducing or reusing.
“There’s a concept, the three R’s concept is being implemented in some areas, but, it is still a challenge. It is something that even the President has been involved in to make sure that we have national cleanups,” Minister Dharamlall said.

He added: “In January of this year, His Excellency led a clean-up exercise, and just two weekends ago, the Prime Minister led a cleanup exercise inclusive of all 10 regions in Guyana and we’ve seen the difference from January to two weeks ago.”

Considering all the effort being placed on maintaining a clean environment, Minister Dharamlall reminded Guyanese that littering is an offence and that some persons have already been prosecuted in the last few months.
“I believe that we have to continue to work and educate people on the challenges, we also have to make sure that we create an enabling environment where people can dispose of their garbage in a very sensible way,” Minister Dharamlall said.

He related that as Guyana’s economy grows, there is going to be a greater waste generation, but the new infrastructure and a more modern environment, in his view, would encourage residents to be more responsible when disposing their waste.

“It is going to take some time… in six months, we’ve seen a massive transformation and I hope that by the end of this year, you’re going to see even greater mobility on this issue. But again, it is it is an issue of a community culture and I think that if policy alone cannot resolve this, what has to happen is that people have to take ownership of pride of their communities,” he said.