Businesses should contribute to their garbage collection

MEMBER of Parliament for Christ Church East, Dr. Denis Lowe believes that businesses should be made to pay for their garbage collection.

 

The Environment Minister was speaking on the Barbados Green Scoping Study in the Lower Chamber yesterday and noted that a large amount of waste generated by businesses including restaurants in Barbados is collected free of cost by the Sanitation Services Authority.

 

“They put out enormous bags of garbage. They are making their money at the counter, but the SSA must collect it free. And sometimes when you clear the garbage at a business house you hardly have room in the compactor for household waste from other places. I am of the view that business houses who are making money should be asked to pay something for the collection of their position. That is my position. It is not the government’s yet, but I hope to campaign it,” he said.

 

Minister Lowe noted that homeowners are also packing large bags of grass and trimmings to be collected which are also taking up space in the compactor.

 

The Minister said there must be a greater awareness and education about the need to separate at source, to recycle in order to cut down the volume of garbage to be collected by the SSA.

 

“They have to understand that the accumulation of waste begins in the household. And if they take the education offerings that we are providing, they might be able to make their waste into a value added for their own benefit.”’

 

“The accumulation of waste is not the fault of the government. It is householders who produce waste in Barbados. The government’s obligation at present is to try to make sure that they collect the waste on a timely basis. But there are specific rules in the legislation that dictates how waste is to be put out, how many collections per week a community is to get, etc. The challenge of the SSA has been the lack of equipment that is reliable and that can do its job,” he said.

 

He stressed that the consumption patterns of Barbadians must change recognising that there is no physical space to accommodate the waste. To this end, he suggested waste to energy is the way to go.

 

“When we begin to talk about waste to energy, there are those who sound forth their nuggets of nothingness on the issues. The government recognises that you have to ensure that you have the best possible technical advantage. The best designs and so on. We cannot fully develop without the inclusion of waste to energy technology, because we do not have the land space for landfills,” he said. (JH)