Business owners call for elimination of foul stench from landfill

BUSINESS OWNERS at Milling Avenue in Sea Lots are calling on government to do something about the repugnant stench that is emanating from the landfill, situated in the vicinity of the Industrial Estate. This stench became a problem over five years ago when the landfill was expanded, but according to business proprietors the situation got worse about two years ago, and people are wondering whether they are working in an “industrial estate or a garbage estate.” General manager of Techninvest Trinidad Ltd, Giovanni Casolari, who established his business in the Sea Lots area since 1960, said that he has been in contact with several organisations and stakeholders, including the EMA, Waste Disposal Ltd and their “landlord,” the Evolving Technologies and Enterprise Development Limited (E-teck).

Casolari explained that e-teck is the company responsible for its lease agreements, part of which state that the area is to be kept in an environmentally friendly and healthy condition. According to Casolari, this is not being done and residents as well as business owners have to suffer the smell of the waste disposal on a daily basis. He said that he was advised by E-teck to lodge a complaint in writing, but he is not prepared to do that since the officials who visited the area should have been able to “smell the stench emanating from the waste disposal site.”

Describing the scene that greets him every morning as he makes his way to the office, Casolari said that the area is filled with a thick fog-like smoke before 8 am. the stench is also worse at these times and garbage trucks zoom by, with the drivers seemingly oblivious of the fact that there are children living and playing in the area. He said that he does not know who else to turn to, to have the situation dealt with, and is almost certain that the powers that be have forgotten the “business people who practically keep the industrial estate alive.” Casolari said that there are approximately seven to eight businesses situated in the vicinity of the landfill.