The Solid Waste Department of the Georgetown City Council has proposed urgent considerations on licensing all private waste removers operating in the city.

The move comes as the Department has found several private waste operators skipping the dumpsite and dumping garbage in areas close to the dumpsite and across parts of the city.

According to a statement, the council is aware that homeless persons and other private persons are sometimes hired by citizens to dump waste material of all sorts.

The concern is that the waste never makes it to the dumpsite but is instead left across the city on empty lots, at roadsides, street corners and even in waterways.

The Director of the Solid Waste Department, Walter Narine, has suggested  “only licensed waste carriers should be authorized to transport refuse in the city.”

He said that while this inclusion to the By-laws will significantly aid in revenue generation, “most importantly, it will bring about some order in this arm of waste management.”

“All push cart, horse driven cart operators among other waste carriers will be transporting waste illegally without a license and the fines should be significant if they are caught doing so.” Narine urged the new Council to earnestly work toward better waste management policies and to discuss this proposal and others he had proposed during their orientation sessions a week ago.

The suggestion of licensed waste movers comes at a time when the Council made public the need to consider billing commercial waste producers for garbage collection. They said the city is bearing a million dollar bill weekly.

 When the Council could not provide adequate waste collection services around the city, pockets of garbage dumps also popped up.

The City Council and the Government have been involved in a massive city clean up exercise since the new government took office last May.

Related posts:

Mayor expresses concern over Local Government Commission’s firing of employees from Treasury. Department Garbage collectors locked out of dumpsite over vaccination requirement Some Garbage collection trucks stranded on West Demerara; Several city areas affected Mayor to seek Council’s approval for release of names of businesses that owe taxes