Over the last few days, more than 40 persons have been arrested, charged and placed before the courts for littering , the Mayor and City Council (M&CC) of Georgetown said in a press release Wednesday.
It is an ongoing anti-litter campaign to rid the city of litter bugs and ranks of the constabulary are staking out certain sections of the main commercial areas of the city, the release said.
According to the release, this is part of a wider awareness, education and enforcement campaign to reduce litter in the city by 30 per cent over the next three months.
In almost every section of Georgetown, heaps of garbage are evident.
. “Thanks to the unfriendly environmental attitudes and actions of some of our citizens, who in spite of our pleadings and exhortations, continue to indiscriminately dump their unwanted stuff around,” the City Council said.
“However, it is very troubling to see the empty food boxes and fuzzy cans with the brands of big corporations and companies just discarded on the parapets and in our canals. Many of these are made of non-biodegradable materials. The results of this are unsightly parapets and thoroughfares, clogged drains and huge public health problems for local residents,” the release continued.
It said some time ago, the M&CC had suggested that corporations pay attention to the way their patrons dispose of the wrapping and packaging materials used to secure and advertise their products. It was also suggested that they put environmentally friendly motivated messages on their packaging materials.
“Corporations should see the protection and preservation health of the environment as part of their social responsibility to the local communities in which they operate. They should have adequate refuse receptacles to permit their customers to dispose of their wrappers in a proper manner. It is very unfortunate some business owners misuse the litter receptacles placed along pavements to dump their commercial waste. In some cases, they pay those persons who have veered off the normal side of life, to dump their waste wherever they see space,” the release said.
M&CC said its Environmental Health Officers have been speaking to these businesses, urging them to help in securing the health and safety of the environment.
In another few weeks, the Council will meet with all local community leaders to encourage and support them in taking responsibility for the state of their environment.