One of the heavy duty equipment that removed the bulk waste from the district yesterday.
Make B’dos Beautiful
Phase two of the National Beautification and Clean Up Campaign got underway yesterday, netting thousands of pounds of garbage within several St. Michael communities.
As the world marked ‘World Clean-Up Day’, Environment Minister Trevor Prescod spoke at the initiative’s launch in the Bonnetts, Brittons Hill area, and said the exercise was more than just moving garbage, but an effort to make Barbados the most beautiful country in the world, by encouraging residents to take pride in their surroundings.
Residents were advised earlier in the week to put their old appliances, used furniture and other bulky items to be disposed outside for collection and throughout yesterday, several trucks and loaders moved around the districts removing these.
Forty derelict vehicles were also identified for disposal, and Prescod noted that this would make a significant reduction in the number of mosquitoes and rats in the districts.
He also expressed thanks to several private waste haulers who offered their services due to the shortage of trucks within the public sector and noted that despite the equipment challenges within the relevant ministries, the project would succeed with the help of private sector partners working in harmony with the state.
“We are going to be notifying Barbadians way in advance and because of the limitations in resources that we have we are going to be doing it sequentially and not simultaneously from St. Lucy to Christ Church, from St. John to St. Peter, because of the limited amount of trucks and finances,” he said, later adding, “This is a mammoth task but it is not beyond us.”
Prescod also used the opportunity to encourage non-governmental organisations to get involved in the project.
“There are lots of organisations which speak about social and cultural development and the y do not understand that this includes activities of this kind and I am a little disappointed that we are making calls to these organisations and am not seeing them here in the manner they should be,” he said. (JMB)