THE National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA) is reporting a backlog of more than 200 loads of garbage across the island, but has assured that it will put special measures in place over the weekend to collect overdue solid waste.

Operations manager Aretha McFarlane gave this assurance on Thursday during a press conference held at the Church Street, downtown Kingston, offices of the Kingston and St Andrew Municipal Corporation (KSAMC).

“What we have coming this weekend, in particular, is a special operation that will specifically target backlog areas. We would have started some work this morning (Thursday) but it will be intensified on Friday where we are pooling the trucks from other regions to support our efforts. Also, we’ll be using the supplementary units that support our operation to clear those backlogs,” she said.

She noted that residents experiencing delays with collection of garbage, particularly those impacted in St Catherine and Kingston and St Andrew, should see the difference within the next two weeks.

McFarlane attributed the backlog to the recent rains which she said significantly hampered the entity’s operations, pointing out that during continuous periods of heavy rains crews that were dispatched had to be pulled and garbage trucks got stuck at disposal sites.

She noted that when it rains dirt disposal sites become more difficult to navigate as the area gets heavily saturated and soggy, and trucks that would have collected the waste get stuck in mud. She said several times, equipment that is supposed to be pushing, spreading and compacting garbage, has to be used to pull the trucks out of the mud. River shingles and stones have also had to be used to bail out the units.

“Despite our best efforts, we are [still experiencing] some issues on the disposal site… [but] we are seeing better days now going into the Christmas season. What we have started to do is to increase the number of trips that we do per day to bring down the backlog. We usually by now would have been closer to single-digits backlog going into the Christmas because we are anticipating the influx of garbage from the festivities. We are behind in that area right across Jamaica,” she said.

She said that, given the measures put in place, the NSWMA should be on schedule to go into the Christmas period with some ease, noting that the entity will be working right through to New Year’s Day with the additional support of staff and resources to keep town centres, market districts and Jamaica as a whole clean.

In the meantime, McFarlane appealed to residents and business persons to be mindful of how they manage their garbage, especially during the festive period when waste generation is much higher.

“Containerise your garbage because when you don’t, it creates inefficiencies in our operations. So it doesn’t matter how many units you put out on the streets to collect, there would be inefficiencies. If one truck would be stuck at one area for two hours and the men have to be shovelling up, raking up and bagging, when you compare that level of effort to picking up even 20 bags at one location and just dumping in the truck, it’s a significant difference in the time that they would have spent in the area,” sh said.

Turning to the issue of illegal dumping, McFarlane contended that these sites “are popping up everywhere” but the entity refuses to accept the excuse that this is happening because the trucks are not coming to collect the garbage. “The trucks are coming [but] no amount of trucks put in the system will be able to run behind illegal dumping and littering,” she said.

“We just want you to be patient with us. Call us if you have any concerns or queries.If the trucks are late, we will communicate with you. Call us and we will tell you when the truck is coming, but package the garbage; don’t allow it to be thrown anywhere. Don’t take it to the next person’s community and deposit it in there. You wouldn’t want that for your community, so please don’t do it.

“We have been cleaning a lot of [illegal] dump sites. You clean one today and by tomorrow you go back there, you wonder if it was cleaned at all. That’s what we are experiencing. If we are to achieve the change in waste management practices, it has to be a collective effort. We will do our part and we are appealing to the residents and the business district; work with us,” she said.