Garbage being collected along St James Street in Montego Bay recently. - Photo by Noel Thompson

SPANISH TOWN, St Catherine:

Executive director of the National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA), Joan Gordon-Webley, said that a high level of dishonesty, including theft, has caused the entity to employ investigators to track its garbage trucks.

Gordon-Webley was addressing the general sitting of the St Catherine Parish Council last Thursday, where she urged councillors to be vigilant and call in the licence plate numbers of any suspicious activities that were being carried out by the fleet.

"Just last week, we caught one of many drivers who had been collecting money for work done on NSWMA time with its unit, but all the money was for this driver using an assumed name," remarked Webley.

She went on to say that 49 new trucks were waiting clearance from the Ministry of Local Government to help and that it was the desire of the authority to help and change the culture of those who work for it.

According to reports, business persons are being charged for the removal of their garbage at the expense of some communities.

Revamping sweeping

Gordon-Webley told the meeting that revamping the sweeping system was also on the agenda for her organisation.

According to the executive director, a roving team of persons, armed with machetes, shovels, brooms and other implements would become an everyday occurrence.

- Rasbert Turner