Dear Editor,
Recently, the airwaves were filled with talks about government’s plans for the future of the landfill. Although the initiative is extremely late, it is still a step in the right direction. During these discussions, Minister of Public Housing, Spatial Planning, Environment and Infrastructure Patrice Gumbs Jr. has invited the public to join in the dialogue, as the ministry seeks solutions to this challenging and long-term process.
After listening to his brief account of the situation at the landfill and his initiative to hold a town hall meeting, I would have preferred to get a comprehensive account of the garbage lot, from the very inception to present, before he organised the meeting – reasons for it being at its current location and a detailed timeline of the many challenges that have occurred over the years to warrant this urgent decision.
In this way, the community would have gotten a better understanding of what has transpired throughout the years; whether it was due to government’s lack of vision or anticipation of the future, or how we as a community have contributed to this situation because of our lack of awareness to be environmentally conscious.
Very concerning is that, not once have I heard the minister mention the significant amount of garbage that the cruise ships add to our landfill. So, when did the sanitary landfill became available to the cruise ships? Who initiated this contract and why? What does the contract entail? Do all of the cruise ships have the privilege to dispose their garbage at the dump? Before this contract was drafted and executed, where were they dumping their waste? Does this include sewage?
Government wants to burden the population once more with a garbage tax, but how much do these cruise ships pay to handle their waste? Does the payment go directly to government? How often do they make these payments and are they current with their fees? How does government handle their defaults, if any? Or is there a trade-off by them injecting monies into the market and cruise pier?
Did I hear correctly that the money which was made available to deal with the landfill situation would be better spent on the future project than to clean up the dump? Is it not better to get rid of all this mess before something new is being introduced? Has the scarcity of space been taken into consideration, based on this growing population? There has to be a way to get rid of this mountain that is sitting in the heart of Philipsburg.
What’s going to happen to all that muck that is still lying there? Even though there are no visible fires, something is fundamentally wrong, because even in the distance, the unbearable scent of manure fills the air, way too often.
I believe that government should focus on clearing this mountain while it pursues this waste-to-energy project.
Joslyn Morton
