Citizens believe the blame game should stop and systems put in place to deal with the city’s garbage
As the Georgetown municipality and central government continues to play politics over the affairs of the city, garbage is piling up everywhere.
Some citizens believe that the blame game should stop and systems put in place to deal with the garbage situation.
When Capitol News took its cameras to the streets some citizens described the situation as shameful and pointed to the bad image it gives to this country.
One resident also called for the reopening of the Princess Street incinerator since in his mind things were far better when it was operational.
And some people we spoke with believe that a collective approach is needed and that the council needs to get more serious with persons who are littering indiscriminately.
City Hall is saying that the lack of finance is severely affecting their daily management of the city.
Comments
Trinidad had a garbage problem. They fixed it. Suriname had a garbage problem. They fixed it. WE can learn from them instead of wringing our hands and crying that we don’t know what to do.
Does the Government have a fiscal plan earmark for sanitation and enviromental protection? It is a cheap shot to use economics in addressing the physical and sanitary conditions in Guyana. It smells very fishy.
Georgetown only recently observed its 200 year of existence as a Municipality.
Every Mayor knows what is a priority list from day to day and week to week except this Mayor who is hell bent on embarassing the Government and Country of his birth. He is no longer a PM but he has lived most of his life wielding Political Power in Guyana and he must have made loyal and good Friends and now he can ask a favour or two from some of them to assist in the clean up Operations of our once Beautiful Garden City. He is on record of marching in these very beautiful streets and around the Parliament calling on the Government to resign. Too many bad memories in their Psyche so no one cares for Georgetown again. This Government must seek some sound advice on the relocation of our Capital City to the West Demerara. It is very possible to build a new city over there. Belize has also done the same. Belmopan is a new and beautiful city. Georgetown really needs relocation after all those floods in March of this year 2012.
Come on now, Countryman…… This is all political. If Green was Blue it would have been a different ballgame. Politics stands in the way of Guyana going anywhere. Stop this nonsense about Psyche and memories. Lets move on…………
If we agree to keep the debate alive we must respect the views of others. The debate must not descend into bachanalism. The fact remains that the Psyche of our people were negatively affected and so their is mistrust and suspicion lurking everywhere and so even the Mayor in private conversations curses the minute and damns the hour. I have no apologies to make for my statements . They are medically sound and politically correct. I did not become a Kellogg fellow to decieve my country men.The scales from our eyes must fall, the earlier the better.
How about a Degree in Political Science…and…However, I do love your tenacity and this is what energizes this blog conversation. But also remember that anyone bequeached with a Fellow of any sort, must impact his/her community in a positive way. Similarily, a Teaching Fellow, prepares highly qualify individuals to become teachers but in exchange, those teachers must enhance the status-quo of education for those children. Remember, as Fellows, succes comes with action and there must be a commitment to purpose, opportunity and change in order to make a difference. … It’s not about “lip service” anymore, it is about COOPERATION.
I have been placing the “links” to solutions other countries used for solving their garbage problems, this time I will just post a part of a really good article
.There’s a “recycling revolution” happening in Sweden – one that has pushed the country closer to zero waste than ever before. In fact, less than one per cent of Sweden’s household garbage ends up in landfills today.
The Scandinavian country has become so good at managing waste, they have to import garbage from the UK, Italy, Norway and Ireland to feed the country’s 32 waste-to-energy (WTE) plants, a practice that has been in place for years.
“Waste today is a commodity in a different way than it has been. It’s not only waste, it’s a business,” explained Swedish Waste Management communications director Anna-Carin Gripwell in a statement.
Every year, the average Swede produces 461 kilograms of waste, a figure that’s slightly below the half-ton European average. But what makes Sweden different is its use of a somewhat controversial program incinerating over two million tons of trash per year.
It’s also a process responsible for converting half the country’s garbage into energy.
Interesting. The guys in Guyana might get some idea from it. Incidentally, Norway is part of Scandinavia. It has a good economy.
During my teenage years in Guyana I recall that there was never a garbage problem. On returning to visit in the 1973, I observed a garbage problem due to the City Council creating a problem by collecting garbage form one residence and dumping it in front of other residents homes. Even though we may have the same method of garbage disposal it should not affect the destruction of the garbage. We need to explore the underlying reasons for the change. A more sophisticated method of disposal is welcomed, but are the funds available to make the transition, and, if it is, what is causing the delay.
“Government should do for people only what they cannot do better by themselves, and no more.”
I do not know who said it but it was amply illustrated by the way garbage was handled in Georgetown long ago; and so far away, it seems.
I grew up in Albuoystown – and never was there an indoor garbage bin. All organic waste had to be deposited in the “rubbish bin” located at the entrance to the (tenement) yard near the street. Each week, on a particular day, a horse drawn ‘rubbish cart’ was driven by and the rubbish bin was emptied into covered compartments in the cart.
And for us -the people – that was it!
The ‘rubbish destructor’ was located somewhere behind the “burial ground” and when the wind was perverse, we smelt the destruction of rubbish.
To be sure, there were ameliorating factors. Overnight, stray dogs and cats reduced the amount of organic waste in the rubbish bins.
And here is something to ponder.
Occasionally, in the morning, there would be the overturned rubbish bin and inedible garbage would litter the area. But it would be cleaned up before sunrise by men who had to go to work for 7.00 am but who loved their family too much to have them walk through the spilled garbage – or worse, to allow the conditions that could cause disease.
I am so proud of the menfolk of my parents’ generation!
Then there was the alley, a wide drain that I could not jump across until a girl did.
We were going to the same place and I was going to take the long way. Man, she jumped across that alley in a manner that told me that I simply had to pick up the gauntlet. We would throw things like shrimp head and fish guts in the alley – after dark! Occasionally (sheep guts) would have to be taken. after dark to the Sussex street canal – but only after the koker was open and ‘pulling’.
The gutters got cleaned on a schedule; and the other drainage infrastructures were maintained on similar schedules.
“Planned Maintenance” is a jargonistic term that evolved during those exciting times.
The tenants paid rent.
The landlord paid the rates and taxes.
The M&TC allocated the funds to provide the services.
The Town Council men picked up the garbage, cleaned the gutters, cleared the trenches … and I grew up to be healthy in mind and body to remember and write about these things.
I remember.Unfortunately,none of the above happens any more.The modern society with excessive wrapping, oversized containers, are some of the reasons for this tidal wave of garbage. It has to go somewhere, land fills do not work, Toronto and its suburbs are awakening to this reality, and are reluctantly turning to Recycle,Burn,Back to grid.I think for Guyana, it is a way out, that would generate (no pun) cash, and jobs.
“Unfortunately, none of the above happens any more.”
I find that hard to believe.
Failure to pay rent results in eviction.
” ” ” taxes results in liens, and sale of the property.
” ” allocate funds results in removal from office. Oh! I forgot; this does not work in Guyana any more.
And why has the garbage disposal system not been updated over the years?
No money?
Where has all the money gone?
Gone to politicians, everyone. (With apologies to Peter, Paul & Mary.)