A case for solid waste management
Editorial
Guyana Chronicle
October 30, 2003
OF all the issues that punctuate discussion in the public domain, the one that cuts across the spectrum of concerns in a profound way is the least talked about: Solid waste management!
But just what is 'solid waste management'?
An October 2002 University of Florida handbook defines the term as "any garbage, refuse, sludge, or other discarded materials; and liquid, semi-solid, or contained gaseous materials. Furthermore, waste from agricultural activities is expressly included."
The only relevant materials that are expressly listed as NOT within the RCRA definition of solid waste, says the handbook, are domestic sewage, waste from irrigation return flows, and point source discharges...
"If none of these exceptions apply, and if the material involved may be said to be discarded or to have served its useful purpose, it is a solid waste. Solid waste may be recycled, reused, discarded, reclaimed, or stored, depending upon its nature."
Solid waste management once was commonly thought of as simply "pick up the waste and go dump it in a hole somewhere." Today, nothing is further from the truth.
From the 1980s onwards, Georgetown has become so unsightly and un-environmentally friendly by the dumping of garbage on neighborhood parapets and in gutters around where businesses and vendors sell, that the "Garden City" is now "Garbage City."
Yet, littering and solid waste dumping remain eyesores. And the problem is no longer peculiar to Georgetown. Solid waste disposal problems exist across Guyana.
New settlement area entrances and schoolyards are prevalent places for the dumping of solid waste and carcasses in rural areas.
One sometimes gets the impression that solid waste disposal - clearly an element of living in settled areas - is not a priority by these decentralized authorities. One prevalent excuse is probably the lack of funds.
In remedying poor solid waste management, we first have to recognize the importance of this factor in human settlement, at the national and local levels. Government and international funding agency spending is crucial in replacing the obsolete municipal incinerator with a modern garbage disposal facility capable of accommodating whatever amount of refuse is disposed of in the city.
Similar, smaller incinerators should be considered for populated towns such as New Amsterdam, Linden, Anna Regina, Corriverton and Rose Hall. Stakeholders should convene seminars to initiate awareness and disseminate plans concerning this.
Critical practices in refuse collection on the main refuse site in the city, low collection coverage and irregular collection services, crude open dumping and burning without air and water pollution control, and the control of informal waste pickers - called junkies - must be recognized and dealt with.
Our sense of this issue is that solid waste management is essential in protecting health and the environment - as well as recycling or reclaiming solid wastes to the greatest extent practicable.
It's an issue that should number among the government's top priorities for 2004.