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EFFECTIVE WASTE MANAGEMENT IS A COMMUNITY EFFORT WE ARE ALL INVOLVED |
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Friday, 15 June 2007 |
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Page 4 of 7
 MR. SELBY DA BREO, GENERAL MANAGER OF THE GRENADA SOLID WASTE
WASTE MANAGEMENT, PREPARING FOR THE FUTURE
Mr. Selby Da Breo craves neither the limelight nor center stage preferring to
execute his duties as General Manager of the Grenada
Solid Waste Management Authority quietly from the
recesses.
However speaking to him you realize that his passion for the effective management
of the nation’s solid waste is palpable.
Da Breo came into GSWMA in February of 1998 when it was still a part of the OECS
Solid and Ship Generated Waste Project as the Operations Manager under the
project. He explained that at that time the project was putting structures in place
to establish solid waste management in Grenada.
The legislation establishing the GSWMA was passed in 1995 but at the time Da
Breo was describing solid waste management itself was just in its infancy
stage.
His role then when he came in was to complete the project cycle of the OECS Solid
and Ship Generated Waste Project.
In order to get the GSWMA functioning efficiently there
were a number of things to
put in place Da Breo said,
among them legislation,
procurement of equipment,
construction of the landfill
and other related jobs. He
was the project manager
then and by extension
became the general manager
of GSWMA.
Before the establishment of
the authority solid waste
collection and disposal was
the responsibility of the
Ministry of Health and suffered
from the shortcomings
and restrictions consistent
with being a department of
a ministry.
Da Breo said the analysis
that was done by the World
Bank on the completion of
the project in 2003 said
Grenada was very successful
in general terms because
the project had to set up an
institution which is the
GSWMA, it had to construct
two landfills and that was
done, it had to put cost
recovery methods in place
and the Environmental
Levy took care of that so the
overall performance was
one of success.
The manager said that the
authority has transformed
solid waste management in
the country and to that
extent it has been successful.
When the Ministry of
Health was responsible for
the management of solid
waste and it was part of the
Environmental Health
Department’s functions.
With the statutorization of
solid waste or what can be
considered the commercialization
of solid waste, Da
Breo said there emerged
several benefits.
Private sector involvement
was brought into play and
immediately the coverage
was extended. The manager
said prior to the establishment
of the authority there
was about 50% coverage.
This was restricted to the
town, its environs and the
main roads. With the establishment
of the authority
this coverage immediately
rose to about 98%.
The introduction of a levy
aimed at cost recovery was
another innovation. This
simply meant that the service
provided had to be paid
for and there was customer
satisfaction because the
people got the service that
they paid for.
The delivery of service was
one of the big achievements
of solid waste management
and this resulted in customer
acceptance and led to
the success of the authority.
At presently the authority
works with 12 independent
contractors. Six of these for
solid waste collection and
transportation and six for
street cleaning which is
done within the boundaries
of the 6 towns in Grenada,
Carriacou and Petite Martinique.
The general manager is satisfied
that the contractors
are by and large doing a
very good job and of course
their performance is being
monitored by the authority
by means of zoned supervisors
who are responsible for
monitoring the day to day
activities of the contractors.
He said the arrangement is
also governed by a very
comprehensive contract
document which articulates
exactly what is expected of
the contractor and that is
monitored on a daily basis
to ensure compliance and
satisfaction.
In addition customers can
call in and report any deficiency
so there are number
of checks in place to ensure
the best possible service to
the public.
Including the general manager
there are 29 persons
employed directly with the
authority and Da Breo
attributes any level of success
the authority has
enjoyed to the efforts of the
staff.
He said the staff members
are the moving factors in
the whole thing, particularly
those in the field and
those on the landfill.
The manager said the collection
supervisors and the
people on the sites who do
the actual dirty work are so
valuable that without them
one could not boast of the
level of success or the level
of management that exists
now.
The GSWMA manager
admits that the organization
is still a long way off
from reaching where it is
supposed to be saying that
while the authority might
be providing a very efficient
service, for solid waste to be
effectively managed in this
country every generator of
waste must take responsibility
at some point in time
for the waste they generate.
He said whether it is a
candy wrapper in your hand
or whether you generate
tons of waste we have to
take responsibility for the
management of that waste
before it reaches the disposal
site.
This has turned out to be a
big challenge, Da Breo said
because there are still people
who are not on board
with thinking environmentally
friendly thoughts.
 ILLEGAL DISPOSAL OF GARBAGE  STAFF DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE
In addition to that the
method of landfilling alone
cannot be continued for
very much longer since it is
not practical to do so.
Landfills occupy lots of
space which is very limited
in Grenada’s case so alternative
methods of disposal
must be used in conjunction
with landfillling.
All in all the GSWMA is on
a path to development and
improved efficiency but
needs the support of all
other sectors of the society
including agriculture, law
enforcement, members of
the public and the business
community to make it’s
work effective.
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