Garbage collection fee to target commercial district
Businesses in the commercial district of the city will be required to pay a separate fee for garbage collection from June, Director of Solid Waste Management at the Georgetown Municipality Walter Narine has said.
Speaking at a press briefing yesterday, Narine said the fee structure was currently being negotiated.
The solid waste director pointed out that almost $1 million is spent per week to collect garbage from the commercial sector and businesses should be paying for the service. “They are producing a lot of plastics, Styrofoam and other waste material on a daily basis. When you compare their usage to residential it’s a higher volume and it is not fair to residents. So they would have to pay a separate fee from 1st of June,” Narine stressed.
He stated that the fees would fall under the categories of small, medium and large depending on the size of the business. Before the fees are implemented they would have to be approved by the Mayor and City Council.
This year also, he said, the city will also move to licence garbage trucks operating in the city.
“We would be licensing garbage trucks and sewage tankers. They are traversing the street and are free to dispose anywhere which is bad environmental practices,” Narine explained, while pointing out that by licensing the trucks they would be able to monitor disposal activities and implement safe environmental practices.
He stated that his department would be responsible for trucks operating in Georgetown, while the Ministry of Communities would be in charge of licensing and monitoring trucks across the country.
Garbage trucks, he said, must be equipped with a receiver to collect fluids from waste materials. The receiver would prevent noxious fluids from leaking off of the truck onto the roadway. This project is also set to come on stream by June. The department is a service provider but in order to provide better service it is venturing into becoming an income generator and taking a different approach solid waste management in the city.