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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 5 of 7
 MS KAREN RODEN, ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT
THE YEARS HAVE BROUGHT CHANGES…AND CHALLENGES
Changing from a department in the Ministry of health to a self-governed
statutory body came about as a result of the OECS Solid and Ship Generated
Waste Project.
All the islands of the OECS were part of that project and they eventually sought to
have individual authorities within the different territories.
Administrative Assistant Ms Karen Roden has been with the Grenada Solid Waste
Management Authority since this transformation was effected and has witnessed all
the changes and developments that took place over the last 10 years.
She recalls the authority being established under Act #11 of 1995 and came about
as a result of the OECS Solid and Ship Generated Waste Project. All the islands of the
OECS were part of that project.
Eventually they sought to have their own individual authorities within the different
countries to manage waste in a scientific way.
The GSWMA was then established with the aim of doing just that and in the process
bring more health benefits to the citizens of the country as a result of better facilities to
dispose of waste. This saw the moving away from open dumping to the construction
of scientific landfills.
Roden said as one of the first workers at the authority it was exciting to move from the
Ministry of Health to the Grenada Solid Waste Management Authority.
As the Secretary to the Minister of Health prior to the transfer, Roden was involved
in taking notes and minutes of meetings held leading up to the establishment of the
authority.
Developing an interest in the organization, she sought secondment to move over and
become part of what she described as this new, exciting entity. She still has no regrets that she made this move because according to her in an entity like the GSWMA one has more flexibility
and it is a challenge that she welcomes.
The successful establishment of the authority came with its challenges Roden said and
one of them was getting persons to understand that they needed to pay for the service
of waste collection since that was never the case before.
Under the Ministry of Health there was a once a week collection and sometimes collection
did not take place for weeks. Waste was mainly deposited in concrete receptacles
by householders at any time on any day and there it remained at the mercy of
stray animals and rodents sometimes for extended periods
of time.
Before the authority about 45-50% of the waste generated was collected and sometimes
people even had to set garbage receptacles on fire in an effort to control the stench
of uncollected garbage.
With the establishment of the authority and the privatization of waste collection contractors
were now responsible for picking up the waste and the collection rate immediately
moved to almost 99% of waste generated. The result was of course cleaner communities.
The challenge then was to get persons to understand the necessity to pay for waste collection.
The tax that was put in place for this, the Environmental Levy got some criticism
but once people saw the improvement in the collection of waste, sometimes to collection
trucks coming almost on their door steps twice a week, the satisfaction they got
somewhat abated their opposition to the tax.
Another challenge encountered over the years was the collapse of the landfill that
was constructed making it necessary to move back to the old dumping site and dumping
openly again.
The passage of the two recent hurricanes created abnormal amounts of garbage which
included galvanize and wood creating yet another challenge.
The upside to this however, Roden said was the acquisition of new equipment, the
wood chipper, a baler to compact things like galvanize and a tire shredder which is soon
to be installed and will herald improvement in the way discarded
tires are treated. The shredded tires means there will be less bulk going to the
landfill and will result in saving not having to construct a
new landfill.
The administrative assistant
has seen improvement over
the years although there is
still some way to go, in the
way people manage their
household waste.
There are still persons who
despite the education programs
carried out by GSWMA
as fast as they generate waste
bring it out to the side of the
road rather than managing
their waste and only bringing
it out on collection days which
are scheduled. Persons are
still putting bulky items
around the bins rather than
calling the authority beforehand
to make arrangements
to have them picked up as
they are advised to do.
Persons carrying waste in
open trucks are also advised
to cover the contents to avoid
spills in the streets.
Another and very significant
challenge in the early days of
the authority was the
unavailability of trained persons
in areas relative to environmental
management but
now there has been an
increase in these experts.
People are coming from universities
trained as environmental
engineers and that is
a plus for the authority in
executing its duties.
Roden is confident that with
the cooperation of the population
and the business community
the GSWMA will continue
to develop and improve on
waste management in the
country and encourages all to
treat waste management as
the important undertaking
that it is.
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