Writing yet another editorial about the burning landfill wasn’t exactly an attractive prospect. Pretty much everything that can be said has already been stated on numerous occasions.
Still, with six cruise ships in port the sight of a smoking dump near the downtown shopping area on Thursday almost felt like an embarrassment. Especially considering the increasing environmental awareness worldwide in this day and age, that is simply not the image a destination selling itself as a tropical paradise wants to portray.
Rather than again going into the entire garbage processing dilemma and possible future solutions, including a waste-to-energy plant, it’s time to focus on the here and now. After all, the frequency and nature of the fires appears to indicate they are mostly caused by humans, whether it be for scavenging purposes or otherwise.
The daily activity at the landfill in its existing form, occasionally referred to as “informal recycling,” seems largely uncontrolled and in certain cases a downright threat to public health and hygiene. The latter goes particularly for persons living and/or working downwind of the ever-growing “trash mountain.”
The sanitary landfill – if one can even call it that anymore – obviously requires intensive management. Government basically outsources that job through a public tender process.
It was noted in the past that the current contractor had provided a significantly lower bid than the amount paid to its predecessor. Minister of Public Housing, Spatial Planning, Environment and Infrastructure VROMI Angel Meyers had checked into that earlier this year to see if anything was amiss, but apparently found nothing wrong.
It must be said, the fires occurred before that too, despite regular efforts to improve the fencing and restrict access. People desperate enough to live from garbage are obviously hard to stop, but some immediate meaningful change is clearly needed.
