High hopes for plastic separation drive
A PLASTIC bottle separation pilot project launched by the Western Parks and Market Waste Management (WPMWM) has been praised as a timely investment into environmental protection.
Janique Harris, president of the Meadows of Irwin Citizens Association, said she hoped that residents would the campaign to engage in responsible garbage disposal practices.
“We are excited and really looking forward to it,”said Harris, who was present at last Friday’s project launch.
The WPMWM said that the initiative aimed to effect culture change in helping to keep communities clean.
Meadows of Irwin, which features some 750 housing units and approximately 2,000 residents, has been considered ideal for the WPMWM’s garbage separation project.
“We are hoping to reach at least 300 households, and over the next two weeks, we are hoping to cover the entire housing scheme,” said Garnett Edmondson, the western regional operations manager at WPMWM.
The project is expected to be expanded to the Mango Walk Country Club and other communities.
Explaining the rationale behind piloting the project in a small community, Edmondson said it was offering an opportunity to work out operational strategies.
“When you are piloting a programme, you want to be able to see dos and don’ts, so that when you push it out in a larger community, you know some of the challenges that come with it,” said Edmondson, citing Ironshore, Flanker, and Mt Salem as too big a challenge at inception.
The pilot is being carried out under the theme ‘For the Love of the Environment’.
Councillor Richard Vernon, the deputy mayor of Montego Bay, lauded the project, pointing out that the best practices will enhance the environment.
Vernon warned that the combustion of plastic would emit gases that are poisonous and destructive to the ozone layer.
“When you separate the plastic, you are now reducing the amount of waste that is being carted away to the landfill,” he said.