THE Mayor and City Council (M&CC) has announced a new schedule for garbage collection in the city’s ten groups, following the complete pull-out of services from their two main garbage contractors last Sunday.  After Puran Brothers Disposal Services and Cevons Waste Management decided to withdraw from clearing the city of both its residential and commercial wastes, the M&CC has since recruited Sandip Disposal Services, C&S Waste Disposal, and Campbelles Waste Disposal.  According to the new schedule, for Group 1, Campbellville Housing Scheme and section L-M Campbellville will be cleared on Mondays, while Belvoir Court, Prashad Nagar, Bel Air Promenade, New Haven, Bel Air Village, Blyzeight, North Sophia, Liliendaal, Turkeyen, Atlantic Ville, Pattersen, University Gardens and Cummings Lodge will be cleared on Tuesdays.  For Group 2, Bel Air Springs, Bel Air Gardens, and Subryanville will be cleared on Mondays, while garbage will be removed from Kitty on Tuesdays and Fridays.  In Group 3, Bel Air Park will be cleared on Mondays;  J-K Campbellville on Tuesdays;  Newtown Kitty on Tuesdays and Wednesdays;  A-D Campbellville on Wednesdays and Thursdays; E-I Campbellville on Thursdays and Fridays; and Lamaha Gardens on Fridays.

For Group 4, Lodge will be cleared on Wednesdays; Jacksonville, West Front Housing Scheme on Fridays; Thorn’s Drive, Century Palm Gardens, Meadow Brook,  Tucville Terrace, Guyhoc Park, and East La Penitence on Wednesdays; and Tucville South on Fridays.  Festival City, North Ruimveldt, and South Ruimveldt Park, in Group 5, will be cleared on Fridays.  In Group 6, South Ruimveldt Gardens, Roxanne Burnham Gardens, Shirley Field Ridley Square, Guyhoc Gardens, Alexander Village, River View Ruimveldt, Laing Avenue, Meadow Bank, Rahaman’s Park, Houston, Mc Doom, Rome, Agricola, and Evans Phillip Park will be cleared on Thursdays.

For Group 7, West Ruimveldt Estate Scheme and West Ruimveldt Housing Scheme will be cleared on Mondays; East Ruimveldt on Tuesday; Middle Road La Penitence on Wednesdays; Jeeboo’s Land, Independence Boulevard, and Castello Housing Scheme on Thursdays; North East La Penitence and East La Penitence on Fridays.  In Group 8, Alberttown, Lamaha Springs and Lamaha Park will be cleared on Mondays; Queenstown on Tuesdays; South Cummingsburg on Thursdays; North Cummingsburg and Kingston on Fridays.  For Group 9, Werk-en-Rust and Wortmanville will be cleared on Tuesdays; while Stabroek, Charlestown and Albouystown will be cleared on Mondays.  Group 10, made up of mainly the city’s commercial areas, will be cleared once daily from Monday to Sunday. Groups 1 to 9 will be cleared once weekly.

Meanwhile, the Solid Waste Director has said he is confident that his department with assistance from the three smaller contractors will be enough to get the work done.      The money that M&CC will save as a result of not having to pay these contractors will go towards paying off the debt to them, he posited. M&CC owes in excess of $300M. The two contactors indicated last Wednesday via letters that that they intended to withdraw their services on Sunday. “Well, let’s put it this way: We made an offer and they did not see favour with it.”  Unlike last month, when they continued collecting commercial waste after withdrawing their residential services, this time around, the contractors have ceased all of their operations. Even so, Narine is confident: “It will be fine.” According to him, the Solid Waste Department will now be covering Groups 7, 8, 9 and 10, while the new contractors will cover the other groups.  Just recently, Town Clerk, Royston King told city councillors that the M&CC was finding it increasingly difficult to honour its financial obligations to the contractors. He said Council had been trying to keep up with current bills, although it has outstanding amounts for the years 2015 and 2016.

King said it was “extremely difficult” for the Council to sustain payments to these contractors because the municipality is being asked to do more with less resources. He pointed out that the Council is now doing more drainage works than it did before. Although help has been forthcoming from the Ministry of Infrastructure, it is often inadequate, King noted, and called for the commercial fee to be implemented as soon as possible, and for the container-fee issue to be sorted out. “Council needs every cent of its money owed by defaulters to continue to provide essential City services,” the M&CC said.