Plans to halt salvaging at Beetham dump

SOLID WASTE Management Company Limited (SWMCOL) chairman Ray Brathwaite yesterday said moves were afoot to implement security measures at the Beetham Landfill to prevent persons from entering the area to salvage garbage. Public Utilities Ministry Permanent Secretary Anthony Bartholomew said the ministry would put emphasis on teaching Beetham residents to find sustainable employment in recycling waste, rather than salvaging it. Brathwaite told a Joint Select Committee meeting at the Red House that SWMCOL was not the legal owner of the Beetham Landfill and cannot legally prosecute anyone who entered the area. He said moves were afoot regarding a transfer of ownership of these lands to SWMCOL.

The SWMCOL chairman also said more guards and perimeter fencing were other options being explored for the landfill. Asked by committee chairperson, Independent Senator Parvatee Amolsingh-Mahabir, why these measures were not done before, Brathwaite claimed the former UNC government put a cap on SWMCOL’s funding, but its PNM successor has since removed that impediment. He said consideration was being given to the relocation of landfills at Forres Park and Guanapo, and the implementation of a disposal fee at all of the nation’s landfills. Brathwaite also called for a greater environmental police presence at the Beetham Landfill.