Bags of grass putting pressure on SSA

MINISTER of Environment and Drainage Dr. Denis Lowe is once again voicing concern about the bulky bags of grass being disposed by residents and the impact it is having on the Sanitation Service Authority’s collection service.

 

Speaking to media on Wednesday Dr. Lowe explained that the large bags of grass should not be in the waste stream and are taking up much-needed space in the SSA compactors which are in heavy demand. He warned that these bags will be left by the wayside.

 

“You have persons cutting their lawns, trimming their trees, packing the trimmings in bags and setting the bag out along with their municipal waste and that is putting some extra pressure on the collection programme because of course a lot of those can be put in a heap somewhere in the back and decompose,” he stated.

 

“Sometimes you will find one household has ten bags and only two of those bags are household waste, the other eight bags are grass clippings. So I’m urging the public, particularly this period that they try to avoid putting green waste in the waste stream and find a more environmentally friendly way to dispose of that waste and persons if they have gardens and so on that could become a good mulching agent for that kind of work,” he urged.

 

“That is not stuff that the SSA is to be collecting. It does collect it, but what we are going to do, when we go around with grass and stuff we are not going to pick them up, but we are going to mark them, because persons who pass may be apt to say the SSA hasn’t collected these things, they would know that they are not collected because they are not part of the waste stream to be collected,” he stressed.

 

The Minister also used the opportunity to call on coconut vendors to clean up their surroundings. “We are urging the public to work with us and that public includes coconut vendors who are still leaving their coconut shells beside the roads and in the trenches. Sometimes for weeks and then the SSA has to go and clean up behind them,” he lamented.

 

“I am urging them, once they have completed their day’s work, don’t only move themselves and those tools, bottles and cutlasses, move the shells as well. Because it is really not the SSA’s responsibility to pick up after them and it is an unnecessary burden to the State. And while we support coconut vending and support entrepreneurship, we also support responsibilities. And I urge them to be part of this effort,” he said.