THE EDITOR SIR:

I was appalled at the picture of a drain be-devilled by solid waste (garbage) pile-up in the Parish of Hanover, that appeared on the front page of the Gleaner October 22. There were also assertions concerning the inefficiency of the NSWMA collection system and a call for drain cleaning.

This, I believe, is an attempt at solving the problem the wrong way. First, solid waste management begins in our homes. Children are to be taught how to manage solid and liquid waste at the individual level, from they enter this world. I say from 'home', whether it is a broken home, a single-parent home, or a home of the "extended family" configuration. Schools can take up some slack, but it must be inculcated in EACH child as an essential growing up principle similar to 'potty training!'

This principle is rooted in the four 'Rs' of waste management thus: (1) Refuse to take somebody else's garbage (especially that which was generated in another country, parish, town or yard. (2) Reduce waste. For example, selecting a brand or a product that generates the least waste, since we pay for it by choice (the expensive packaging for example, that we throw away is like money thrown into a sink hole). (3) Re-use. Many materials that we treat as waste can be reused in its original form or with minor modifications that make their re-use convenient. (4) Recycle (so-called) waste materials by reprocessing, repackaging, and redistributing to the consumer.

We seem to forget as humans that there is nothing new under the sun (according to Ecclesiastes in the Bible), and that matter can neither be created nor destroyed by humans. The same atom of iron found in the steel of your brand new car was here from the foundation of the earth! And in like manner, the molecule of clean air you are now breathing was here when Christopher Columbus visited Jamaica some 500 years ago. Matter only changes state and chemical arrangement and re-arrangement.

So here we are with a solid waste problem, but the solution is at our own fingertips. Apply the four Rs, and if need be, according to the first, refuse to take it from another country, or send the waste back on the same plane or ship that brings it here!

On the national scene, I believe it is immoral and utterly irresponsible for any manufacturing or distributing company or organisation to take materials into our economy and not be responsible for their eventual disposal, or to have them shipped back to their origin. This refers particularly to empty containers of food, cosmetics and other mass consummable items that do not just 'fall from the sky'. Let us, therefore, have the right approach to waste management, and take the appropriate steps to apply the correct intervention strategies as needed: and teach the children!

I am, etc.,

CAPT. JOHN LAMEY, J.P.,

pepa@cwjamaica.com

President, Portland

Environment Protection Association,

Port Antonio P.O.,

Portland, Jamaica.