CHAMBERS PEN, Hanover — The National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA) is looking to private contractors to help it improve garbage collection for the Yuletide season.

The two-week-old programme, which has already added at least five trucks in Kingston and St Andrew, will see the entity engaging owners of compactor trucks in a bid to ease the chronic shortage of equipment that has plagued it for years.

“We want people who have private compactors. We are trying to see if we can get them to come in and give us a few trips here and a few trips there,” said NSWMA Executive Director Audley Gordon.

He was unable to say how many trucks the company were hoping to source or how much it would cost taxpayers.

“All we need to do is to follow the [Government] procurement procedures that we have to observe. We are trying to work our way with that in mind so that we don’t breach any regulations in doing it,” he said.

Gordon explained that compactors were being sought as they can accommodate four times the volume of solid waste that tipper trucks are able to carry and would therefore be more cost-effective.

“I know everybody is out looking for additional trucks because we have to give Jamaica a clean Christmas. We can’t give them that if we go into December with a backlog [in garbage collection]. So we are racing against the clock to clear the backlog by the end of November,” he said.

Gordon was speaking with the Jamaica Observer on Thursday following the hosting of a Solid Waste Reduction Programme in which the NSWMA also launched a composting and plastic bottle separation competition in the community of Chambers Pen, Hanover.

During the event, he reiterated an appeal to the public to properly containerise their garbage as this will reduce the time it takes for collection and therefore boost the efficiency of the current fleet of trucks.

The NSWMA now has 110 trucks, but only about 60 are fit for service. Gordon has repeatedly said the company needs at least 150 trucks to effectively collect waste across the island.

Last month he told a parliamentary oversight committee that, despite doing the best with what the entity has, it is desperately in need of an injection of new trucks.

He told the Observer that the NSWMA is hoping the Government will be able, in the next financial year, to keep a promise it had made to provide 100 new trucks during the 2019/2020 fiscal year. This was halted with the diverting of resources to combat the novel coronavirus pandemic.

If the funds are made available, Gordon said, the NSWMA could receive new trucks by the end of next year.

“Until then, we have to fight with what we have. We have to continue with the two trips and three trips. We have to press hard with the management and make sure that we get the maximum out of every truck. But we can keep the system going; even if we are late, we are coming,” he assured.