Mash garbage cleanup costs city $1M
By Mark Ramotar
Guyana Chronicle
February 28, 2007
THE Georgetown Mayor and City Council (M&CC) said it has spent more than $1M to remove the abundance of litter and garbage, some 17 tonnes, in various parts of the city in the immediate aftermath of the gala Mash celebration last Friday.
Public Relations Officer of the M&CC Mr. Royston King made this revelation during a telephone interview with this newspaper yesterday.
“This unfriendly environmental action of littering by some citizens appears not to be compatible with the desired attitude of Guyanese whose nation has just celebrated 37 years as a Cooperative Republic,” King told the Guyana Chronicle.
“Therefore the action is very troubling.”
He also noted that in spite of attempts by the M&CC to persuade people to keep litter where it belongs, in a proper litter/garbage receptacle, persons continue to blatantly use the parapets in the city as dumping sites for garbage.
“No one can argue about the need to make merry and to demonstrate the appropriate exuberance to celebrate our national achievements, especially Mashramani, but this should not be used as an excuse to make the place untidy with litter,” King contended.
“Further, some Mash revelers stayed on the streets way into the wee hours of the next day, making it extremely difficult for our cleaning workers to clean up before sunrise (on Saturday).”
He said this resulted in citizens being greeted with the unsightly parapets and canals stacked with litter from the previous day’s Mash revelry.
“Everyone knows that having a receptacle or a bag to properly dispose of refuse is simply the right thing to do. However, people seem not to even bother about it or the consequences of their unfriendly environmental action and as a result, about 17 tonnes of garbage were removed by our solid waste department at a cost of over $1M.”
The council, he said, is appealing to all citizens to help keep Georgetown clean and tidy since “responsible environmental action is a clear imperative to a healthy city”.
Moreover, he said, citizens need to set a high standard ahead of the upcoming Cricket World Cup (CWC).
King also revealed that as part of the recently launched anti-litter campaign, more than 200 persons have been placed before the courts for dirty yards and absence of proper litter receptacles for garbage disposal.
According to him, the campaign has been completed in the Bourda, Lacytown and Stabroek wards, and the council will next be moving the campaign into Lodge.
King also said it is against this background that the M&CC has partnered with the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company Ltd (GT&T) to install 60-newly designed litter receptacles in various parts of the city.
“We have already installed just around 20 units (receptacles) in the Regent Street area and hope to continue the process in another few days around the city,” he said.