Chief of Staff in the Office of the Prime Minister Lionel Hurst

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By Aabigayle McIntosh

The National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA) will be taken steps to reduce the number of trucks that are contracted to aid in the collection of garbage.

The government revealed on Thursday that there are operators/owners of trucks that were over-represented and the statutory corporation was given the mandate to reduce the number of trucks anyone operator is allowed to use at a given time.

The aim, according to Thursday’s post-Cabinet notes is to ensure that small and individual truck owners will be able to receive reasonable payments each week.     

The NSWMA has encountered several delays in the collection of garbage from communities across the island due to the limited availability of trucks.

Prime Minister’s Chief of Staff Lionel Max Hurst told Reporters Thursday that NSWMA had around 8 compactor trucks and they are now down to 3.

In recent weeks, they have managed to repair 2 additional ones bringing that number to 5.

“We are doing our very best to ensure that the new schedules that will allow for trucks to enter villages and communities to collect garbage are allowed to continue,”

He said,” What has been happening is they have been collecting the garbage from main roads and highways and not going into the villages, and as a consequence, the garbage has accumulated”.

Officials from the statutory corporation were invited to Cabinet on Wednesday to discuss the issue at length.

Hurst said they were given the assurance that collection will improve over the coming days.

Michael Joseph is the new Chairman of the NSWMA. He takes over from Daryl Spencer whose contract ended in April